Strange & Beautiful
by emmaoliver
Summary: Everyone is a little bit strange, and a little bit beautiful - but sometimes they just need someone to show them their beautiful side.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! This is my first fanfic, so hopefully I'm doing this right. :)**

**Not much to say, except that the title for this story comes from the song "Strange & Beautiful" by Aqualung (_insertnameofthatvideositehere_.com/watch?v=WYgBoJRi9uk). I'm a big fan of music, so plan on seeing quite a few songs interspersed throughout my chapters. Oh! And this story is AU and is told from Brittany's perspective.**

**Enjoy! **

**Chapter 1**

I felt the drool on my pillowcase before I had even opened my eyes. Or, at least, I hoped it was drool and that I hadn't fallen asleep with a cup of water in my hand again. I slowly opened my eyes and patted the fabric – nope, definitely just drool.

I blinked and stared around the bright room – confusion gave way to panic as I tried to make sense of my surroundings. My heart slowed down when I recognized my own furniture. I should probably make a sign that said "Brittany's Room" and stick it to the ceiling above my bed, just in case I ever forgot in the middle of the night. I nodded to myself and slowly made my way through cardboard boxes and in to the kitchen, opening every drawer in search of something to relieve my throbbing head.

It had been 48 hours since I had stepped foot in the converted 4 bedroom apartment I would now call home, in a city that made me feel both excited and terrified. New York. The land of dreams. That's what they called it right? Or maybe that was the Titanic– or baseball. Either way, I was already overwhelmed.

"Britt – can you han me wunufthose," I heard a muffled voice call from the couch, followed by messy blonde hair peaking over the armrest. I smiled, unpopped the cork to the Advil and shuffled over to the living room with a big glass of water.

I pushed Sam's feet aside to take a seat and smirked as he tried to drink down the pills and water without moving his head from the pillow– he failed and I stifled a giggle as water spilled on to his neck and t-shirt.

Sam and I grew up together in the suburbs of Lima, Ohio. We had been friends since first grade, when Sam asked if I wanted to be the blue power ranger and said that he would be red. The answer was an obvious yes. We had tried being boyfriend/girlfriend once in high school, after years of our parents and friends making fun of us…but I think we have a silent pact now to never mention that time when he tried to kiss me sophomore year. We mashed our noses together and pulled away in disgust before our lips could touch, and I told him that the blue power ranger and the red power ranger were probably never supposed to be more than friends. He agreed and that was that.

We're both 24 now and Sam's the reason I moved to this city in the first place. Well, that and dancing… and Mike Chang I guess too. Mike's the guy who lived in this apartment before me and I was able to take his room after he moved in with his girlfriend, Tina. Or I guess she's his fiancé now and that's why they're moving in together? I don't know, I just met them last night at what Sam called my "Welcome Party"... I think it was just an excuse to drink a lot.

I let my eyes gaze over the apartment as Sam coughed down his water quietly in the background. It was small, and definitely crowded… but it was warm and cozy and my new home. The apartment was technically built for three, but at some point drywall had been erected to carve out a fourth bedroom from the large living room space and now two of Sam's friends from work, Finn and Noah – or "Puck" as he had demanded I call him when he was "off the clock" – lived in the two smallest rooms. My mom was both frightened and comforted to know that I was living with three boys, and my grandpa just told me to mention something about a shotgun.

"So what'd you think of everyone you met last night?" Finn pulled me from my thoughts. I hadn't realized that he had entered the room and plopped down in the recliner next to me.

"Everyone was really nice," I mused. "Mercedes makes the best drinks. And Puck's girlfriend is pretty." I offered when it was obvious that both boys were expecting to hear more.

"She's not my girlfriend," Puck called from his room. I guess he was listening to our conversation but was too lazy to get out of bed. Which was fine since the apartment was so small that we were practically all in the same room anyway.

"Yeah, Quinn and Puck are… complicated." Sam said while eyeing Puck's door. "They had a thing in high school, they broke up... and now they've been on and off ever since."

"Ohhh," I said slowly and nodded with understanding. Quinn had been pretty, but had hardly spoken two words to me at the party. I made a note to get to know her better so that she didn't think I was trying to steal her man or something… especially since Sam had mentioned that she lived in the same building as us.

"Speaking of Quinn, where was the roomie last night?" Finn asked as he flipped on the television and started scrolling to The Food Network. Finn was a chef at the restaurant where Sam and Puck worked – it was a place called "Burt's Bar" and was apparently a hot spot for grabbing drinks after work or on the weekends. Sam told me that whenever Finn was trying a new recipe he would make us his guinea pigs… whatever that means.

I lost track of the conversation when someone on the screen started talking about donuts. Donuts were my favorite dessert – Strawberry sprinkled ones, especially – so I listened intently to the story about "The Largest Donuts in America" until I drifted off against the armrest.

It was two days later when I remembered that Mercedes had told me to text her if I ever wanted to hang out. I knew that having friends other than Sam (and I guess now Finn and Puck) was a good idea, and Sam kept randomly mentioning Mercedes in conversation – so I figured this was a good start.

It took me awhile to find her number in my phone, since I had been drinking and spelled it "Mwrcrssdfl" the night of the party, but eventually we agreed to meet up for coffee at a place called Muggy's down the street.

Mercedes had grown up in the Bronx and gone to boarding school with Quinn in the city. That's where they had met Finn and Puck – not in boarding school, because that was for girls only, but in the city when Quinn was going through her "rebellious phase"… or at least that's what Sam told me. Mercedes had hoped to pursue a career as an R&B singer, but now she had a part in the musical "Dreamgirls" on Broadway. She told me she only had a small role at the moment, but was the understudy for the character of Effie and hoped to take over the top spot within the year. I told her I wanted to come see her perform regardless.

Mercedes was sassy and confident and slightly intimidating –but she seemed to like me and laughed whenever I said something out of the ordinary. I never found it hard to make friends, most people came around to me quickly – but it did take some people longer to adjust to what my younger sister described as a "strange, but beautiful" personality. My mom just worried that people wouldn't understand me outside of Ohio. I told her that everyone was a little bit strange and a little bit beautiful, but sometimes they just needed someone to show them their beautiful side. I still don't know why that made her look more worried.

"Hey Rachel! Can a girl get some coffee cake up in here?" Mercedes called towards the back of the small café. I saw a shorter, brown haired girl poke her head up from behind the counter and scowl – but within seconds she was making her way to our table with a cinnamon cake in hand.

"Mercedes, just because you are my roommate does not mean that you can make me your personal slave. And I'll have you know that I made the coffee cake fresh this morning, so I expect you to pay for it." The girl added as she placed the plate on the table and folded her arms across her chest.

Mercedes just rolled her eyes and turned towards me. "Brittany, this is my roommate Rachel. We met in acting class a few years back. She plays Maria in a –

"Up and coming, provocative, and innovate theater company." Rachel tried to cut her off.

"Small, off-Broadway production of West Side Story" Mercedes deadpanned, and then continued "she acts in the evenings and works here during the day. Don't let her first impression fool you, she's actually hella cool."

Rachel's face changed from offended to extremely pleased within seconds as she offered her hand to me to shake.

"Hi Brittany. You must be the girl who just moved in with Fi- I mean, Sam and the boys!" She said animatedly. "I was supposed to make it to the party the other night, but our director had some…personal issues he needed to deal with, so I had to stand in and direct one of our other productions last minute."

"So you direct AND act?" I asked, my eyes grew wide.

"Yes, well –all in a day's work for someone with my credentials." She dismissed."But anyway, tell me about yourself! Where are you from, what do you do, are you single, and what type of man are you attracted to?" She asked quickly as she took a seat across from me and excitedly placed her hands under her chin.

Mercedes rolled her eyes again. "Girl, you have GOT to be less terrifying with your introductions. And definitely less obvious with your attempts to do background checks on Finn's friends."

I smiled back at Rachel who was now blushing. "Umm...l...well," I was never very good at ice breakers. "I'm from Lima, Ohio – same town as Sam... anddd I moved here because I was offered a job as an assistant choreographer at a dance studio nearby. I couldn't leave home for awhile after high school because my Dad was kind of sick and I wanted to help my mom pay for the hospital bills and take care of my sister, Maggie – but this job definitely pays better than Breadstix, and it's what I love to do, anddd Sam said I could live in his apartment for super cheap. So, here I am!" I finished and started picking at the cinnamon cake in front of me.

Rachel and Mercedes exchanged looks like they didn't quite know how to respond. I guess I hadn't mentioned that part about my family during the party… so I just kept talking.

"I didn't really want to come to New York, because my grandpa always said that it was for 'floosies and sellouts'. But Sam really likes it here, and I wanted to try something new, and his friends, well - you guys - seem really cool, so… yeah. And my family's fine now, by the way – so don't worry about that." I smiled and finally stuck the cinnamon cake in my mouth. "Wow. This is really good." I made sure to put my hand over my mouth to catch any crumbs.

Mercedes and Rachel both smiled now and the three of us continued chatting until Rachel had to go back to work and Mercedes needed to head to the theater for a matinee show.

I waved goodbye and started heading home. My apartment was only a few blocks away, so it didn't take long. I brought a coffee for Sam and extra cinnamon cake for Finn and Puck, since I wasn't sure what kind of coffee they liked yet... or if they liked coffee at all.

I heard banging noises the second the elevator doors to my floor opened. They got louder as I walked towards my apartment, and when I turned the corner at the end of the hallway - there was a girl standing outside the door across from ours in black boots, a black leather jacket, and large black sunglasses. She had her fist raised mid-knock when she saw me, but then she lowered it and tried to act as though she was just casually waiting for someone to open the door. She was surrounded by two large suitcases and she was staring intently at her phone as I passed. I noticed the screen was black.

I had to maneuver somewhat awkwardly around one of her bags to reach my door and let out a hushed "hi" and "excuse me" as I did so. She didn't say anything back but I did catch a slightly confused look when she realized that I was opening the door to the apartment across from her. I let myself in and shut the door.

No one was home so I placed the coffee and cinnamon cake on the counter and took a seat on the couch. I had attended my first dance rehearsal that morning before coffee with Mercedes, and the couch had been calling my name ever since.

Five minutes passed before I realized that I hadn't heard any movement outside the door, so I got up and peeked through the peephole to see if the girl was still outside. I could see her bags, but that was all - so I opened the door to make sure nothing bad had happened to her. I found her sitting on the ground with her back against the door and her knees drawn up to her chest - she must have been hidden behind her bags when I checked through the weird fishbowl shaped glass of the peephole. Not a very effective design, I thought. Her eyes had been closed, but they shot open when she heard the door move. She eyed me suspiciously and waited for me to keep walking down the hall.

But I didn't, instead I just smiled and waved. She raised one eyebrow and didn't respond, so I just stepped further in to the hallway.

"Are you locked out?" I asked and pointed to her door.

"Yep." She responded dryly and looked down the hall.

"Do you need somewhere to put your bags? Or a phone to call someone?" I ventured."This neighborhood is pretty safe, I think - I mean, I just moved here - but I would still feel bad if someone stole you or your bags and I didn't do anything to stop it."

She looked like she wasn't going to respond, so instead of pestering her I just let out an airy "oookay" and turned back to my door.

I was already halfway through the entrance when I heard her clear her throat to speak. "And how do I know that _you_ wouldn't try to steal me or my bags?"

I turned around quickly and tried to decide if her question was serious or not. Even though I thought I saw a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips, I decided to play it safe.

"Well, I have pepper spray." I offered. "My mom gave it to me when I decided to move here. I can give it to you to hold while you're in my apartment?"

She finally smiled and lightly shook her head. "I live here, actually. My roommate's just a giant ass flake who apparently forgot to tell me that she changed the locks."

"Oh." I said and started fiddling with the ends of the scarf I was wearing. I was excited that she was talking to me, and apparently we were neighbors - so I wanted to keep this going.

"Soo, do you want to come inside until you can get a hold of your roommate?" I asked again. "I have coffee - well, it's a hazelnut latte. Or cinnamon cake? Or water if you don't like either of those options? I haven't had a chance to go to the grocery store yet so-"

"Okay."

I stopped talking and snapped my eyes down to her.

"If Jewfro realizes I'm out here he'll try to talk to me, and then I won't be able to control myself from eventually slapping him across that pimple village he calls a face." She huffed as she stood up and I could tell she was rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses.

"I'm Brittany." I smiled and extended my hand to her.

"Santana."She said and grabbed both her bag handles before she could return the shake. She followed me inside and I shut the door.

Once she was in my apartment, I realized that I hadn't planned much further than an introduction... and silence quickly filled the room.

She reached to take her sunglasses off at the same time I opened the fridge to get her a glass of water, and from the corner of my eye I could see that she was surveying our apartment.

"I live with boys." For some reason I felt the need to clarify, even though our apartment wasn't that messy. She didn't seem surprised though, and just nodded her head with her back still turned to me.

"Did you want water? I'm going to have a glass. It's purified... but I don't know if I believe that because it doesn't take very long to go from regular water to purified water when I fill up the jug." I held a glass in her direction.

Finally she turned around and made eye contact with me for the first time. She had an amused smile and shook her head "no" as she walked back towards me to stand on the opposite side of the kitchen counter.

Her eyes were chocolaty brown and I didn't want to blink as long as she was staring at me. And then suddenly I was struck by the feeling that I had seen her before.

"Have we met before?" I asked as my head cocked slightly to the side.

She looked away now and shook her head "no" again. I scrunched my mouth to the side in confusion, because I usually had a good memory when it came to faces.

Before I could place it, she spoke. "So, why did you move to this shithole of a city? Are you dating one of the guys?" She was now flipping through the pages of the People magazine I had left on the counter earlier. I could tell she wasn't really paying attention to the magazine content, because she was flipping the pages too fast and talking to me at the same time.

"No," I laughed. "My family lives in Ohio and my mom said it was time for me to move out. So here I am." I decided to remain vague this time, since my original ice breaker answer to Rachel's question had seemed to make her and Mercedes uncomfortable.

"Do you not get along with your family or something?" She asked nonchalantly, but when she looked up at me briefly I could tell that she was curious to hear my answer.

I was startled by her insinuation and quickly began shaking my head. She looked down again and almost seemed disappointed.

"I'm really close with my family," I responded, still shaking my head. I knew I looked confused. "Especially after my dad died."

Her head snapped up again. Shit. That was weird of me to say, wasn't it. I took in a big breath before I continued talking.

"We knew it was going to happen, so we were prepared. But it brought me, my mom and my sister really close together. I probably would have stayed in Lima forever, but my mom told me I was too young to get stuck somewhere like that." I closed my mouth now and started fiddling with my hands and staring down at my shoes. What had made me say that? She had been here for barely two minutes and now she was definitely going to leave.

But when I looked up, she was still there. And now her eyes were soft. She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it when keys started rattling in the door.

A few seconds later, Puck walked in. He looked startled when he saw her, and then confused.

"Umm Santana... Are you lost?" he asked unsurely as he took in her appearance and the large suitcases by her feet.

Now_ I_ was confused. I looked back and forth between the two of them, trying to remember if I had missed something.

"Puckerman, how could I be lost when the rodent living on your head continues to remind me that I'm home? I even brought nuts - back from LA, in case you had neglected to feed it." She gestured up toward his mohawk. "Clearly that's not a problem though... since it looks more feral and rabid than ever."

I was still confused, and worried about what I had said – but I let out a small laugh anyway. Puck looked unamused, but not offended.

"Good to see you too, Santana. Quinn's back. I'm guessing she forgot to tell you about the locks?"

Finally I put two and two together – so Quinn lived across the hall, and Santana was her roommate?

Santana was already grabbing her bags and moving toward the door."Yep. She also forgot to answer her phone. I'm guessing she left her charger over here again?"

Puck let out a tired laugh and nodded his head. He grabbed one of Santana's bags as she struggled slightly to get it through the door.

I could hear Quinn outside welcoming Santana home, and my door started close – when suddenly it popped open again and Santana leaned in.

"See you around, Brittany." She said with a small smile. The door closed again before I could respond.


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh hey there! For anyone who's curious, this story will be updated every few days.**

**Also, when I wrote the beginning of this chapter, I was picturing this video (_insertnameofthatvideositehere._com/watch?v=9_cuA6Qj0PA) of the oh-so-talented Heather Morris dancing. Seriously, girl's a beast.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

One. Two. Three. Four… One. Two. Three. Four. I counted the beats in my head as we went in to the final leg of the routine. My loose ponytail bobbed around and hair whipped in my face as I locked my hips and let my shoulders pop along with my arms to the rhythm.

_"And I just can pull myself a-way, under a spell I can't break…"_

My mind wandered on its own again to Santana and her chocolate eyes. I tried to push it out so I could concentrate, but this had been happening ever since I met her yesterday. It was inexplicable, but she had left me so curious – more curious than I had ever been about someone I had just met.

Maybe it had been her feigned indifference, or her lightning-quick insult towards Puck – but most likely it had been the way she looked at me just before the door opened, like she was seeing me for the first time. Whatever the case, I felt an overwhelming need to talk to her again and to show her that I wasn't an awkward weirdo. My eyebrows furrowed as I danced, it wasn't like me to care this much about what someone thought of me.

_"And I just can't bring myself, no way… but I don't want to escape… I just can't stop, I just can't stop…"_

I thought back to the conversation I had had with the boys last night over pizza, beer and football. The guys had this ritual every Sunday night – they would watch football and drink beer while wearing their favorite teams' jerseys. I thought it was cute and loved anything that involved uniforms, so I was happy to dust off my dad's vintage Cincinatti Bengals t-shirt when they let me join. Their only demands were that I didn't taint the event with "girly beer" or too many questions about the rules of the game. So I didn't mention that Hoegaarden was my favorite beer, because I figured it might be girly if the word "garden" was in the title. And I didn't ask questions when one of the players got tackled in the endzone and somehow the other team ended up scoring.

_"Dude, you really need to do something about that thing – or I'm going to make you wear a hairnet next time you're in the kitchen." Finn pointed the tip of his beer bottle towards Puck's head and chuckled as he took a long swig. His bottle was wearing a mini matching Steelers jersey as a coozie, which I thought was almost as adorable as when dogs wore clothes to keep warm._

_"Can we lay off on the hair jokes for the duration of this game? I already got an earful from Cruella today and I'd rather enjoy watching the Patriots win – again (he gave Sam the side-eye) – than think about cutting this manscape-tion creation." He ran his hand over the top of his head._

_"You should really re-think that description." Sam laughed as he tried to wipe off pizza sauce from the collar of his Giants jersey. "And Santana's back? Since when?"_

_My head perked up from my book – I had been reading the Hunger Games since halftime._

_"How long have you guys known Santana? I asked casually. "I didn't realize she and Quinn lived across from us."_

_Sam turned his head slightly towards me, but kept his eyes on the television. "Well, 'known' is kind of a difficult word to use with Santana." He took a swig of his beer and reached for another piece of pizza. "I met her when I moved in with these guys a year ago, but Puck and Finn have known her since she moved in with Quinn – so like, what? Three years now?"_

_Finn and Puck both nodded their heads disinterestedly while still staring at the TV. Sam finally looked at me._

_"She doesn't really hang out with our group unless Quinn makes her. And when she does, she has two settings – distant or insulting. So if she's ever mean to you, just ignore it… or tell me, and I'll say something to her." He said and waited for me to nod that I understood he was serious before he turned back to the TV. Sam was always sticking up for me when people made fun of my "career as a space cadet." That was actually a comment that Sam had yelled at someone for recently, so it was still fresh in my mind._

The song came to a close and the other dancers began patting each other on the back. I snapped out of my trance and smiled at our head choreographer, Darius, as he reached his hand out for a congratulatory slap. I really liked Darius, and had already made friends with most of the dancers in the group. They were all so carefree and talented – and never failed to make me laugh. I knew this was going to be a good fit. We had been called on to perform in a music video in three days, and I was nervous about my first "official" appearance on the job.

I dabbed my forehead with a towel and checked my phone. There was a text from Mercedes inviting me to her and Rachel's apartment tonight for dinner and margaritas. I shot off a quick response of "_Sounds groovy" _and made my way back out to center of the studio for the next song.

/

I tapped out a short beat with my knuckles on Rachel and Mercedes door and was quickly let inside. It had started to lightly snow on my way home, so I was happy to feel warmth again as Rachel took my jacket to hang in their coat closet.

Their apartment was smaller and a bit older than ours, even though it was right across the street, but it was tastefully decorated in shabby chic with various shades of light green and pink. I liked it instantly.

"This is great! I love the fireplace." I said, gesturing toward the centerpiece of the living room. There was a large flat panel TV hanging above the mantel and it was turned on to some random nightly news station.

"Thank you!" Rachel beamed as she walked over and grabbed a margarita glass, already full and brimmed with sugar. "You know, we starving artists can't afford much – but I think this place has a quiet elegance to it." She handed me the glass and turned to survey the living room with me. "In the words of Audrey Hepburn, 'there are certain shades of limelight that can wreck a girl's complexion.' And it's really the same with interior decorating – it's just so easy to be gaudy and over the top these days." She shook her head sadly.

"Oh lord." Mercedes chuckled as she finished mashing up the ground beef for tacos. "Brittany, how's your dance stuff going? I googled the studio after you mentioned it and damn girl! That shit is legit! You guys are pretty much the most popular dancers to call on for music videos and movies being filmed in the city – am I right?"

I blushed, but nodded and laughed at the Mercedes-ness of her compliment. "I guess you could describe it that way. Darius calls us 'artistic consultants', but I honestly don't have the full swing of things yet." I looked back and forth between Mercedes and Rachel. "But I love it so far."

"While I don't know if I agree with your friend Darius' mixture of business terms with the free spirit of performance… your line of work sounds absolutely fascinating. I think it's great that you're doing something you love." Rachel replied sincerely and Mercedes nodded in agreement.

An hour later we were chatting casually as we ate our tacos in the living room. The TV was on mute in the background and Rachel had just started to tell stories about the famous people she had met since living in New York.

"Well, there was De Niro – such a lovely man." Her cheeks were slightly red from the two margaritas she had consumed so far. "And, of course, Barbra for the second time last March."

I smiled and glanced briefly at the TV behind Rachel's head. Within seconds I was choking on my drink and slamming my glass down on the coffee table.

"Have you not met Barbra before?" Rachel looked alarmed and put her hand on my shoulder.

I began to shake my head as I regained my composure. "Santana" I croaked out, still staring at the TV.

Rachel looked annoyed. "I would _hardly_ consider Santana a celebrity." She huffed. "And I certainly wouldn't rank her anywhere near the likes of De Niro or Streisand."

Mercedes, who had been struggling to follow what had just happened, finally spoke up and pointed Rachel towards the TV screen.

"No, dummy – Santana's show is on." She rolled her eyes and then turned to me. "So you've met the ice queen, I assume?"

I was still trying to piece everything together. Why was Santana on the screen in front of me?

Finally I nodded and coughed once more before speaking. "I met her a few days ago outside of our apartments. Is she an actress?"

"If we're using the term loosely, then-" Rachel began, but Mercedes cut her off.

"Yeah. The girl was imported here straight from Hollywood. Have you really never seen the show she's on?" She raised one eyebrow and looked at me. I shook my head slowly and looked back at the TV, it had switched to a new scene and now she was gone.

"Well it's called 'Secret Society'" She continued. I raised my eyebrows as high as they could go and I felt my mouth drop open - that was my little sister Maggie's favorite show.

"Santana's not a main character, but I hear she's been getting more screen time lately… everyone loves the bitchy cheerleader." Mercedes laughed.

"I'd be more impressed if she had to play someone with a soul, but since this character is hardly out of her comfort zone – I'll save my praise for more deserving television actors. Like Katharine McPhee." Rachel added.

I decided not to push the subject further and just went back to sipping my margarita while Rachel and Mercedes argued in the background about what role Katharine McPhee would have pursued on Broadway. I looked back at the TV, hoping to catch a glimpse of Santana one more time.

/

It was Friday, the day of the music video shoot, and I was standing around the set talking to my mom and Maggie on the phone. Things had been so busy, but I was happy to finally be catching up. I had a few minutes left before we needed to be in position, so I was trying to wrap things up with Maggie.

_"Okay, so then Douglas and Kate hook up – and everyone is like, 'whoa, didn't see that one coming!' But I did, because Kate is *such* a slut." _

"Maggie!" I warned, but didn't stop her from continuing.

_"Whatever. So then Kate is like, 'guess what! I'm preggers and I don't know if you're the father!' Major cliff-hanger." _

She continued talking about another plot twist when I looked up to see the director signaling that we had two minutes, so I had to redirect her quickly."Okay, so what about the… the bitchy cheerleader? Is there a character like that?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

_"Oh. Selena? Yeah, she's super pretty, but kind of an outside character that's only around every once in awhile to say something mean. She's a lot of my friends' favorite character though, and she's been around a lot more this season. Why?" _Maggie asked, confused now by my sudden interest in her show.

I smiled. For some reason it made me super happy to know that Santana's character was well-liked by Maggie's friends, even if they were thirteen year olds.

"Oh, no reason – I was just curious because apparently they film the show in New York. Right?" I tried to cover. I didn't feel like telling Maggie about Santana yet, not without really knowing her and if she would want random people's sisters knowing that she lived across the hall from them.

_"Yeah! They film at a fancy boarding school in the Upper East Side mostly, and then at other random places around the city. OMG! We are totally stalking the set when I come to visit." _Maggie said excitedly.

I laughed but then had to quiet down as Darius approached. "Haha, sure thing. Hey, I've gotta run – but tell mom I love her – again – and I'll talk to you guys soon. Later, Mags."

I hung up the phone quickly after she said her goodbyes and shoved it in my bag. I now knew that Santana's show was a drama about privileged high schoolers living in New York, that it was in its second season, and that it was wildly popular among teens. I wasn't surprised that I had missed it – I wasn't a huge TV watcher – but now I completely understood why I thought I had recognized her when we first met.

"Brittany." Darius put his hand on my shoulder. "Let's get everyone in position, Blaine's going to be standing righhtttt, umm... right here." He said as he walked me over to the area where we would be dancing and pointed to tape markings on the floor.

Blaine Anderson was the singer whose music video we were performing in. He wasn't a huge star yet, but was quickly on the rise – and was a heart-throb among teens. I would have asked for an autograph for Maggie, but I always felt awkward about those kinds of things and had never been particularly star-struck over anyone in my life.

I began getting the dancers in position as Blaine made his way out. He started introducing himself to us and seemed friendly enough… even if he was shorter than expected and had a little too much gel in his hair. The director walked over and told us we would be running through our first take. I got in position, smiled and winked at Darius – who was monitoring us from behind the camera - and put my head down until the music turned on and my body started moving to the beat.

/

Later that night, after I'd washed away the sweat from a long day on set – I stood in front of my mirror, loosely curling my hair and singing along to the "Jammy Jams" playlist I had created for the weekend. I had my own bathroom, which I now appreciated more than ever – because I could hear Finn on the other side of the apartment asking Sam if he could borrow his deodorant. I wasn't afraid of boy cooties, but I really liked my deodorant and had just bought a new stick.

When I had returned from work earlier that day, Sam had told me that Quinn was throwing a party that night and we were all going. Apparently Quinn worked for a large consulting firm, which required her to travel often – so this was the first time in awhile that both she and Santana were in town for the weekend. I tried to play down my excitement over the possibility of seeing Santana again, but that didn't stop me from immediately rushing to my room to get ready.

I joined the boys in shotgunning a beer before we left– and made sure to burp quietly before exiting the kitchen. I was wearing my hair down with light jean shorts and a wide-necked black t-shirt that hung off my shoulders and exposed my favorite pink bra strap. The boys had made fun of me for not dressing weather appropriate, but I reminded them that I was wearing knee-high socks and boots – so only part of my legs were exposed - and that we were only crossing the hallway.

The party was already in full swing when we opened the door, and I immediately spotted Mercedes pouring shots by the sink – so I went to join her.

"Hey girl! You look fantastic! Want one?" She held up a shot towards me. I sniffed it, smiled, and nodded.

I took a look around the apartment for the first time while Mercedes poured out another shot. It looked sort of like ours – exposed brick, stainless steel appliances – but it was a two bedroom (without any added drywalls) and was really, really nice. I figured that maybe it had been renovated recently, and had possibly been decorated by a professional – because ours definitely looked older and slightly run down in comparison. My eyes focused on the window across the living room and I gawked at the incredible view of the Chrysler Building. Our side of the apartment was facing another high rise, which meant that I had to keep my curtains closed whenever I changed.

Quinn appeared next to Mercedes and I could tell she was already tipsy.

"Jonesie!" She yelled as she hugged Mercedes around the waste and rested her head on her shoulder. I smiled at Quinn's term of endearment. "I want a shot, shot, shot, shot – shot, shot. Errryboday!" She started singing and pumping her fist to her own song. Her short blonde hair was wild.

Mercedes started laughing and held up shot glasses to both me and Quinn. "Already poured you one, honey." She handed Quinn hers. "Here you go Brittany. You and Quinn met at your apartment party last week, right?" I took my glass, smiled towards Quinn and nodded – even though we hadn't really had a conversation that night.

Quinn turned to me and smiled wide. "Brittany!" She reached her glass out towards me, but downed the shot before I could clink it. Mercedes and I both started giggling. "I need to talk to you about living with the boys!" She looked at me seriously. "I think we can help each other out. I have soooo many stories."

I laughed again and nodded. Mercedes held up her glass and the two of us took our shots together. Just then, Puck and Sam came over and Quinn was instantly distracted. She was trying to make Puck a drink, but was failing miserably – so Puck finally laughed, grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her to the side. It made me happy to see them being sort of cute together. I noticed that Mercedes was offering Sam a shot now, and I really didn't want another one so soon – so I grabbed a beer, told Mercedes that I was going to mingle, and started walking through the room.

I didn't really recognize anyone, other than Rachel – who was standing on what appeared to be the outskirts of a conversation that Finn was having with a group of guys – and a few other people who had been in our apartment last weekend, so I made my way over to the window to look at the view. A few seconds later, a large girl bumped in to me, causing me to drop my beer all over my boots and the floor.

"Zizes, are you fucking kidding me? If you keep spilling shit, I'm going to tranquilize your white rhino ass and sell your horn to an African drug lord."

I snapped my head up from my boots as a huge grin spread across my face. Santana approached us and threw a small towel at the girl's chest. The girl, Zizes, grabbed the offending towel from her shirt and dropped her mouth open before turning to face Santana fully.

"Oh no you didn't, Lopez." She started swaying slightly in place and was slurring her words. "Do I need to remind you of what happened the last time we decided to rumble?" She was up in Santanas face now, but Santana just rolled her eyes.

"Lauren! Come check this out!" Some guy called from across the room. The girl immediately became distracted, dropped the towel on to Santana's shoulder, and walked away.

Santana looked like she was contemplating tackling her, but then let out a huff, grabbed the towel, and bent down to start wiping away the beer on the floor. I leaned down too and reached toward the towel in her hand.

"Here, let me." I said as kindly as could. "There's not much, and most of it is on my boots anyway."

Santana looked up at me, but kept wiping until it was all off the floor. Then she stood up and handed me the towel so that I could wipe off my boots. "Sorry about that," she sounded annoyed. "I don't know why Quinn invited Zizes – she breaks or spills something every time she's here. That girl must chug a bottle of hand sanitizer before she parties, because I do _not_ know how someone _that_ large can have such a low tolerance level." She looked towards Zizes, who was now high-fiving a group of people after they had all chugged beers.

I laughed and looked back at Santana. "So… did you get new keys?"

She looked confused at first, but then smiled slightly. "Yeah. Quinn had them made already – so she gave me one after I left your apartment. She's always misplacing things, so this wasn't the first time I've had new keys waiting for me when I got home."

I nodded knowingly as I bent down to wipe my boots, "I used to leave my keys in the car all the time – but then my mom made me tie a ribbon to my door handle, so I'd remember to grab them before I left."

She let out a half-hearted laugh, "Yeah, well something tells me that Quinn would still find a way to lose shit even if she had a ribbon tattooed to her hand." She looked around the room for a moment while I continued wiping my boots and tried to think of something to say.

I looked up at her and took a moment to admire her outfit. She was wearing dark blue jeans, black pumps, a white v-neck and a black blazer. Her hair was falling in loose curls across her shoulders and I swallowed hard when I realized that those dark eyes were staring down at me, waiting for me to say something.

I shot up and began looking for a place to put the towel. She held out her hand, so I gave it to her. "I saw you on TV the other night." I finally blurted out.

Her eyebrows shot up for a second and then she smirked. "Ahh, so you figured it out." She folded her arms across her chest. "You don't watch TV much, do you?" She didn't ask it in an arrogant way, but was just stating it as a probable fact.

Just then the song changed. I recognized it because it was the song I had been dancing to for 8 hours straight at the music video shoot earlier today. Santana narrowed her eyes and put the towel down on the end table next to her. "Hold up – I'm going to change this playlist."

She started to make her way towards the iPod speakers, but was quickly cut off by a random blonde girl.

"Omg! How cuuuute. You play your boyfriend's songs at your parties?" She slurred and placed her hand on one of Santana's shoulders. Santana scowled, looked down at the girl's hand, and promptly removed it from her shoulder. She brushed passed the blonde and switched directions so that now she was heading toward the kitchen.

"Bee Tee Dubbs, why isn't he hereeee?" The girl called after her. Santana didn't turn around and instead grabbed two beers from the fridge and popped the caps off. She made her way back to me and held out one of the Bud Lights out for me to take.

"Thanks." I smiled and took the bottle from her hands. She just nodded as she took a long swig from her bottle.

"Change your mind about the playlist?" I looked over toward the speakers, which were now playing a random Rihanna song.

She shrugged her shoulders and took another swig. "I've heard that song a lot."

"Barbie" I pointed towards the blonde girl and Santana cracked a grin at the nickname. "She said you're dating that singer? Blaine Anderson?" I was curious to know what had made Santana react the way she did, but I was also afraid that she would get angry at me for bringing it up.

"No." She responded immediately, but then her eyes grew wide and she began to backtrack. "I mean, yes. Well… sort of." She finally said. "We're not serious. He's represented by the same talent agency as me."

I nodded and smiled. "You sound like me when I'm trying to explain how I feel about vegetables." I could see a smile tugging at the corners of her lips, and she looked like she was contemplating whether or not she wanted to keep talking… but instead she just tucked her lips in to her mouth and kept quiet.

I decided to fill the silence. "My senior year of high school I dated this guy, Ben, because he was homecoming king… and I was homecoming queen." I hoped that didn't sound arrogant of me to mention, but it was the truth. "Everyone thought we were perfect for each other, and I've always been a fan of Disney movies and happy endings – so I tried to make myselffall in love with him." She scrunched her nose when I said that last part. "We dated for the entire school year before I finally told him that I didn't like listening to 'Born in the USA' every time we got in the car, or watching Varsity Blues in his parents' basement every other weekend… and even then I let him be the one to break up with me over the summer, because I felt bad." I didn't really know why I was telling her this story, but it was all I could think of to say.

Santana looked like she was lost in her own thoughts for a moment, but then she nodded slowly and straightened up her shoulders.

"I was home-schooled during high school." She said lazily. "We didn't have kings or queens of anything." She scanned the room and frowned when she noticed Rachel yelling something about her drink to Mercedes.

"Well, if you had gone to McKinley I bet you would have been Prom Queen." I said sincerely and waited for her to look at me again.

"Oh yeah? Why is that?" She sounded disinterested and was looking everywhere but my eyes.

"Because Prom Queens are always the prettiest girls in school." I said simply, and shrugged my shoulders.

She finally turned to me and eyed me suspiciously for a moment, before bringing her beer back to her lips and letting out a breathy laugh.

"Brittany S. Pierce! Get your sweet Ohio ass over here for some flip cup!" Sam called from across the room. Mercedes was laughing next to him and motioning for me to join them. I smiled and nodded my head, but before I started walking toward them I looked back at Santana.

She nodded once while giving me a small smile and playfully shooing me off toward the table. I smiled back, shook my head, and lightly grabbed her wrist.

Her eyes bugged and she immediately looked down at our hands.

I laughed and started tugging her along with me. "Come on, home-schooler. Show us Midwestern public school kids what you can do."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hope everyone had a great Super Bowl weekend! Thanks to those who have left a few reviews, I really appreciate them. :)**

**So, songs... there are a few in this chapter... and if you'd like to listen along, here are the links. Also, for the scenes at Burt's - I pictured Brittany in the outfit from the "Blame It on the Alcohol" performance from Season 2. Enjoy!**

_insertnameofthatvideositehere._com/watch?v=ebPsiEBXsHs (I pictured this song playing during the opening Flip Cup scene)

_insertnameofthatvideositehere_.com/watch?v=FfM_wS7qYfY (Ni**as in Paris - Jay and Kanye)

_insertnameofthatvideositehere._com/watch?v=pESsKRCg6pQ (Where Them Girls At - David Guetta)

_insertnameofthatvideositehere_.com/watch?v=s3bksUSPB4c (I Can't Help Myself - The Four Tops)

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

"Ohhhhhhhh shitttt!" Puck called loudly from the other side of the table.

We had decided to play Survivor Flip Cup and somehow it had come down to me on one side and Finn on the other. Everyone was cheering so loudly and Sam was hovering next to me, shouting out random phrases of encouragement like, "Fuck yeah!" and "Go go Power Rangers!"

I had two cups left and my belly was so full. I picked up the first cup and washed it down quickly – I flipped it upright on the first try and smiled as I grabbed the final cup. I could see that Finn was reaching for his last cup too.

I swigged down the last of the beer and my hands started fumbling to get my cup in position. Finn was already trying to flip his cup and it had fallen over twice.

I stuck my tongue out in concentration, set the cup on the edge, and flipped. Everyone held their breath as the rim teetered from side to side until finally - it landed upright.

Everyone started cheering and Sam lifted me up in the air. He started carrying me around the room and chanting "Weeee are the champions, my friendddsss" and our friends were cracking up laughing around us. I heard Finn burp loudly and Rachel started patting him on the back.

Sam put me down and I wiped my mouth triumphantly.

"Well, I'm officially proud to be your roommate." Puck slapped me on the back and Finn held out his hand for me to shake.

I beamed back at them and then looked over at Santana. She was leaning against the counter with her arms crossed and she was smiling.

Just then Sam put his arm around my shoulder. "Okay, kiddo. Time to go out while we're on top. We have work tomorrow." He shook his finger in my face, but I laughed and pushed it away. I nodded that I would be right behind him and then walked over to Santana.

She was smiling and clapping her hands lightly for me. I laughed and did a little curtsy.

"Impressive." She nodded her head.

"You were good too!" I almost yelled. "Why did you volunteer to drop out so early?"

She shrugged. "I have a promotional photoshoot tomorrow. Can't look too hungover."

I gave an exaggerated nod as Sam tugged on the back of my shirt.

"Well… see you around, Santana." I smiled and turned to follow the boys.

When I looked back, she had a dopey smile on her face and she waved goodbye. I laughed and skipped out the door.

/

"Okay, I just seriously don't get how you can say that Manning is a better QB than Brady." Puck was looking at Sam like he had two heads as we walked in to Muggy's. Finn was holding the door open for us and he and I exchanged tired smiles as I passed through.

It was Monday morning and Sam and Puck had been arguing over the results of last night's Super Bowl game for the last hour. I still didn't understand why, but all I knew was that I wanted them to stop.

"Isn't that guy married to a Victoria's Secret model?" I yawned as we took a seat at a table near the window. I had been told that this was "our spot" and that we didn't need to order because Rachel had an elephant's brain or something. I didn't question it and just hoped that she knew I wanted the usual hot chocolate.

Puck clapped his hands together and then pointed at me. "Yes, thank you! Brady wins for baggin' hot chicks. End of."

Sam rolled his eyes. "That doesn't even make sense."

Puck turned to me. "Brittany, you would do Tom Brady – right?" Sam scoffed and Finn looked bashfully curious.

I mulled Puck's question over for a few seconds. "Probably not." I shrugged my shoulders and turned to look for Rachel. She was busy with a customer at the counter. When I turned back, Puck was shaking his head and Finn and Sam were smiling.

"Okay, well then what type of dude gets the sack? And by that, I mean - you in it?" Puck waggled his eyebrows and Sam made a noise of disgust.

"Who said it has to be a guy?" I said through another yawn, before turning back to look for Rachel. I really wanted that hot chocolate.

"I knew it!" Puck immediately held out his hand toward Finn. "Pay up. 20 bucks." But Finn and Sam were just blinking, wide-eyed at me.

Finally Sam shook off his surprise. "Brittany, you do realize what you just said, right?"

I had to think back over the conversation quickly to make sure that I hadn't word vomited again, but then I just looked at them hesitantly. "Yes?"

Puck leaned back in his chair with a smug smile. "Yep. I have a knack for identifying chicks who aren't keen on the peen." He crossed his arms behind his head. "The first giveaway is when they don't hit on me." All three of us rolled our eyes. "And then the rest is just pure psychic ability… and too much Oprah as a child." He looked away, slightly concerned. "I really hope her and Gayle figure it out, man."

Sam turned to face me – he didn't look as shocked now, but I could tell that he was thinking hard about something. "So… wait…" He started. "What about the guys you've been with? What about Ben all senior year? Or Luke? Didn't you like them?" I smiled fondly at the memory of Luke, he had been good friends with Sam and we had dated briefly after high school.

"What about them?" I asked as my eyebrows furrowed. "I liked them just fine."

"But you just said that you're a… a lesbian." Finn whispered the last part. Poor Finn. He looked so confused.

"No I didn't?" My eyebrows knitted even further together and I started shaking my head. "No, I just didn't understand why Puck only gave me the man option. It's not a true or false question, it's a 'mark all that apply' or a… 'fill in the blank' question." I nodded to myself, this explanation made sense. "And if it was a fill in the blank question, then I would just… leave it blank. Like in high school."

Finn interrupted me from my thoughts. "So… you're not gay?"

I shrugged my shoulders. This conversation was getting old, but at least we weren't still talking about football. "I don't know. I like everyone. Why? Does it matter?"

Sam finally looked like he understood as he just smiled. "No, I guess it doesn't."

Puck leaned forward again now. "So, all I'm getting from this new piece of info is that we need to watch our backs with our chicks." He gave me a sly smile. "Because if I were a chick, I would totally consider _spelunking_ your woman cave."

I laughed. "Why would they want to flunk a spelling bee?"

Finn still looked super confused, and now Sam just laughed and patted me on the back.

"Puck's afraid you're going to steal his girl." He said through another chuckle.

I smiled in understanding. "Quinn's really pretty, but you don't have to worry about that."

Puck look satisfied with my response, and then he pointed towards a woman who had just walked in the door. "What about her?"

"She's like, my mom's age or something." I said as I crinkled my nose.

"Okay, what about her?" Sam asked from my other side, all three boys were smiling now – I could tell they were enjoying this.

"Way too young. I'm pretty sure she's with that high school tour group." I pointed out the window towards a small group of teens that were huddled around a map.

"What about _her_?" Puck said with a grin as he pointed behind me. I turned around to find Rachel holding a tray of steaming mugs, she looked unamused.

"Brittany, while I would find an affirmative response to that question very flattering… just, please don't humor Puck with a response." She started passing out our drinks. I beamed when I saw that mine was a hot chocolate – with marshmallows.

"Besides, I… I'm interested in someone else." She said shyly as she placed Finn's coffee on the table. He didn't seem to notice when she glanced quickly in his directly.

"Thanks, Rachel." Sam said as he helped her grab the last cup. "Are you ready for Mercedes' big birthday throwdown on Friday?"

"It's going to be incredible!" She said excitedly. "Quinn and I certainly had our creative differences when it came to the planning…" She shot Puck a look. "But I know Mercedes' is going to love the surprise."

Rachel began to explain more of the details about the party, until eventually another customer arrived and she had to run back to the register. I finished my hot chocolate and checked the time. I had dance rehearsals in 30 minutes and the boys had to report to Burt's in an hour… so I collected my things, said goodbye and walked out in to the cold New York morning.

/

I smiled as I looked at myself in the mirror, I knew I looked good. It was finally Friday and we were all getting ready for Mercedes' surprise party. I was wearing my hair up with black jeans, a small black strapless top, and a sequined blazer. I made sure to wink at myself before I left the bathroom, because that's what a lot of girls did in movies. I don't know if it ever made a difference.

The plan was for everyone to meet at Burt's around 10:30 pm to prepare for Mercedes' arrival. Rachel was already at the Dreamgirls show, and would be bringing Mercedes with her around 11. Sam had called us a taxi-van, and everyone from our building would be riding over to the bar together. I still didn't know if Santana was coming, because no one had mentioned her when they were talking about party plans.

I followed Sam and the boys to the elevator, and when the doors opened to the lobby – I could hear Quinn around the corner talking heatedly to someone.

"I thought we agreed that none of your 'work friends' were allowed to come to events like this… I just don't understand why you can't tell your agent to fuck off and that tonight isn't the night for fake photoshoots." Quinn didn't sound mean, she just sounded irritated.

The boys and I rounded the corner and immediately Quinn's expression changed from frustrated to excited. "Is everyone ready? Santana canceled the cab and found something else for us. I think they're ready for us outside." She started walking toward the door.

It was then that I realized the person she had been talking to was Santana. She turned around to look at us and flashed a forced smile. She looked really pretty.

When we got outside there were two large, black SUVs waiting for us. I frowned. "Why do we need two of these? Is one a diversion?"

Puck laughed. "No, I'm guessing Santana is riding in one and we're riding in the other. Am I right?" He looked to Quinn, who just nodded and rolled her eyes. Santana had already entered the other car and shut the door. I frowned again and climbed in next to Sam.

When we arrived at Burt's, everyone started climbing out and walking away from the car. I looked at them like they were crazy. "Is anyone going to pay him?" I whispered to Sam and pointed at the driver.

"Oh… No." Sam shook his head. "Santana paid for them. She does that whenever she has to arrive separately to things like this." I looked back at the car and shrugged as I shut the door and followed the others inside.

This was my first time seeing Burt's Bar, and I could totally understand why the boys liked spending so much time here. It was dark, and a little grungy - but it was super lively and filled with lots of fun people. It was decorated like an autoshop – with black walls and a bar that was made completely out of old car parts that had been welded together. The tables were shiny metal and the booths were round, black leather. Above the bar, red lights hung from an overhang that looked like the bottom of a garage door - and upstairs there was apparently another bar and a small stage for karaoke and open mic nights. The whole place was so, so cool.

We all squeezed in to the bar while we waited for Mercedes' arrival and Sam motioned to one of the bartenders, who immediately brought over a pitcher and several glasses.

A few minutes later I saw lights flashing outside of the entrance and was surprised when Santana and another girl - who I recognized from her show – walked inside. They made their way over to us.

Santana started pouring herself a drink immediately while she spoke to no one in particular. "Guys, this is Emily. A friend from work." Emily had long blonde hair and brown eyes, and she waved at us shyly.

"Sorry to crash your party tonight guys." She said apologetically. "I can't stay long, unfortunately. But I _do_ want to try one of those amazing shooters I keep hearing about!" She smiled and looked around at all of us.

"Ahh, the Lubricator," Sam smiled. Emily laughed and nodded. "Coming right up!" Sam opened the entrance to the bar and started making shooters for everyone.

I couldn't help but overhear Quinn whispering to Puck next to me. "I knew that this was going to happen," she hissed, "the second I saw that stupid blog post about an on-set feud."

"Babe, calm down – it's fine. Emily seems cool. They probably just needed to snap a few photos to shut everyone up and then it's done. Just relax."

I watched as Santana came around to sit on the open bar stool next to me. Emily followed behind her.

"Emily, this is Brittany." Santana smiled at me and I couldn't help but notice as her eyes dropped down my body and then quickly snapped back up. She blinked a few times and then pointed toward the others. "And that's Quinn, Puck and Finn." Finn gave Emily a dopey smile and waved.

Quinn looked up from her phone.

"Hi Emily, we met a few months ago at the season kick-off party." She smiled, but I could tell that it wasn't genuine. "Sorry to interrupt, but Rachel is apparently living out some sort of secret ops fantasy and has been texting me every five seconds… anyway, she says that they just arrived."

Sam had just appeared with the tray of shooters when Mercedes and Rachel walked through the door.

"Surprise!" We all yelled and Mercedes nearly jumped out of her skin. Then she started laughing and turned to hit Rachel on the arm.

"You told me we were just grabbing a drink!" She beamed at everyone. "Don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to see you hooligans… but I hope I look ready to party!" She laughed and did a little twirl.

Quinn came over and gave her a big hug. "We didn't get to celebrate last year, so we wanted to make it up to you. The boys reserved this for us," She gestured toward one of the larger open booths. "And don't even think about touching your credit card tonight." She shook her finger in Mercedes' face. Mercedes smiled at us all gratefully.

"Well thanks, guys. You've made this girls' day."

Sam walked over with the tray of shooters and knelt down in front of her. "A shooter for the birthday girl?" He smiled up at her.

Everyone gathered around after Mercedes selected her shooter, Quinn made a toast, and then we all cheered and downed our drinks. This was going to be a good night.

30 minutes later, I was sitting at the end of the booth next to Santana and we were listening to Finn and Emily talk about basketball - apparently Emily was dating an NBA player – while Quinn and Puck had gone to the bar to get more drinks. Rachel was with Mercedes and Sam a few yards away, but she had been glaring at Finn and Emily for the last five minutes. Finn was now pointing to one of the female bartenders and was explaining how he played basketball in a casual league with her boyfriend. Just then, Rachel approached our table.

"Oh hey, girlfriend!" She said in an overly buddy-buddy fashion as she not-so-discretely entered the conversation by wedging in to the booth next to me.

"What are we talking about over here?" She looked across the table at everyone and then her eyes rested on Finn. "Are we trying to pick out another girl for Brittany?"

I shook my head and moved closer to Santana so that Rachel could have more room – even though I didn't really feel like giving it to her, she was being kind of obnoxious. As I shifted I heard Emily whisper to Santana, "Holy hell. She has to be the hottest lesbian I've ever seen."

I frowned and turned to look at Santana, why was this conversation happening – again? I saw Santana's eyes bug for a second, but just as quickly she collected herself and shot a dagger glare at Rachel.

"Funny, I don't remember using my bird call…" She lifted her cocktail and swished it around. "Tell me Rachel, do you have to bring your own glass to these kinds of things – or do most venues just have cups on hand that are wide enough to fit your enormous shnoz?" Emily nearly spit out her drink and Finn looked uncomfortable. "Oh, you know what? I totally forgot – straws! Phew. You're good." She flashed Rachel a devilish smile.

Rachel just huffed, rolled her eyes, and stood up from the booth. "Well, keep up the fun times, ladies!" She glared at Santana. "Oh. Finn, do you have any song requests? Mercedes is selecting them at the jukebox." She pointed over to the TouchTunes jukebox, where an already tipsy Mercedes was cackling and flipping through songs with Sam. "We need to stop her from stacking the playlist with 'gangsta rap'." She used air quotations.

Just then, I heard the familiar opening beats to one of my favorite songs. My eyes grew as wide as my smile and I immediately jumped up from my seat.

"Ninjas in Paris!" I yelled. Mercedes heard me and started laughing loudly as I moved my shoulders to the beat.

"Get it girl!" She yelled. Emily and Finn were cracking up, Rachel had her hand covering her face – but I could tell she was laughing, and Santana was trying, but failing, to hold back a huge grin.

Puck and Quinn made their way over to our table and now Quinn was dancing and hollering. I jumped down from the booth to join her and when the chorus started, I leaned forward and yelled Jay-Z's part out loud.

"Ball so hard muthafuckas wanna find me…" then I leaned back and Quinn leaned forward."That shit cray." She put her hands up in the air. "That shit cray." Now she crossed her arms over her chest and did a funny pose. "That shit cray." She finished and then broke in to a laugh. I laughed with her and then I started rapping the next verse. Kanye's part wasn't very nice, but I knew the words and couldn't help singing along.

Puck and Finn did their best Will Ferrell impressions during the "it's provocative!" part of the song, and then Mercedes came in at the end. We finished the song by brushing off each other's shoulders and high fiving. Everyone was laughing so hard.

"Shotsss!" Mercedes called as she threw her arm around me. "Girl, you are just too much. Where has Sam been hiding you all this time?"

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders as one of the bartenders brought over a tray of tequila shots. We all downed them and Puck twirled his finger in the air to signify a second round.

An hour (and 4 rounds of shots) later, our small group had turned in to a complete shit show. Quinn was yelling at Puck about something I couldn't understand, Rachel was singing loudly to the Mariah Carey song she had obviously chosen, and Emily (who had apparently decided to stay), Mercedes, Finn, Sam, and I were trying to play quarters on the table. Santana had walked outside to take a call.

I could feel the alcohol burning in my stomach, and I knew that I was drunk because I kept missing the shot glass with my quarter. I was usually pretty good at this game.

Just then I felt Santana scooting back in to the booth. Before she had been sitting in between me and Emily, but now I had to scoot in to the middle position. Our legs bumped together under the table and I tried to move mine to give her more room, but she seemed to scoot closer and now our thighs were touching. I felt my face get super hot and my quarter aim became drastically worse.

I was hunched forward in concentration when I felt Emily lean toward Santana behind me. She had been slurring her words for the last 10 minutes and her idea of personal space had dwindled considerably.

"Brittany is soo cute." I thought I heard her say. "I think I have a girl crush on her."

I so badly wanted to whip my head around to see Santana's reaction, but I didn't. Instead I could hear her pause before whispering, she sounded annoyed.

"You have a boyfriend." I could picture her narrowing her eyes.

"So?" Emily giggled. "He would think it was totally hot if I hooked up with Brittany."

Just then the song changed and Emily squealed.

"Brittany!" She grabbed my arm so hard my quarter went flying across the table. "Come dance with me!"

Before I had time to respond, she was pulling me out of the booth and we were dancing around. Within seconds, Mercedes and Rachel had joined us.

I hadn't realized how drunk I was until I stood up and almost fell over again. I could hear myself laughing and knew that I was just dancing around in lazy circles.

Suddenly Emily was in my face. "Where them girlssss atttttttt, girlsss at? She tried to sing in my ear. I laughed because her breath tickled. Suddenly her hands were on my waist and she was trying to get me to dance with her… but before I could really register what was happening, she was backing away.

I looked up and saw that Santana had pulled her back to the booth. I shrugged and just kept dancing around with Rachel and Mercedes. The three of us were giggling uncontrollably.

We danced to one more song and then I came back and sat down next to Santana. She and Emily were both looking down at their phones and Emily looked super pissed, but then she looked up and spoke.

"Carsss here. I'mmaa leaving." She stood up, stumbled slightly and then began to wave cheerfully to everyone. "Twass a pleasure. TTFN, betches!" She called as she walked out the door.

Santana hadn't looked up from her phone the entire time Emily was talking. Once the door closed I heard her mumble.

"Charming." She stuffed her phone back in her purse and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What's wrong? You look like a frowny face." I leaned forward and booped her on the nose with my finger. She looked startled at first but then the corners of her mouth pulled in to a smile.

"I think I need water. But I don't want to break the seal." I said to her worriedly.

She laughed and took my empty glass from my hand. "How about you go to the bathroom, and I'll get us some water?"

I nodded excitedly and held up my finger to say "1 minute", before turning and nearly sprinting towards the women's room.

I still couldn't figure out why everyone had warned me about Santana. Yeah, she wasn't the friendliest sometimes - and what she had said to Rachel earlier was kind of hurtful… but she was hanging out with all of us tonight, and she had yet to say anything mean to me. And I knew that I had given her plenty of opportunities, because I had seen people giving me weird looks a few times.

I dried my hands and walked out of the bathroom.

Then I heard it.

_"Sugar pie, honey bunch… you know that I love you…"_

It was my dad's song for me. Blaring from the jukebox like a cruel slap in the face.

My eyes starting darting around frantically and I could feel my throat closing up. Puck was sitting in the booth talking to Finn, and Quinn had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Mercedes and Rachel were swaying back and forth to the music, and Sam was nowhere to be found.

I felt the tears stinging my eyes and my hands were balling up in to tight fists. I looked over toward the bar, but I could barely make out anything through the blur. I quickly turned around and headed for the door.

My heels pounded against the floor in time with my heart as I brushed past the bouncer and stumbled out on to the street. The second the cold air hit my body I started to sob.

I had been doing so well since I'd moved here. Sure, I thought about my dad all the time… but I was a happy person, and happy people didn't cry.

But now, with the alcohol… and the music… and being in a city so far from my family, I just couldn't hold it in any longer. I sat on the curb, buried my face in my arms, and cried out all of the tears that I had been holding in since I left Ohio.

Suddenly I felt a small hand rest hesitantly on my back. Someone had taken a seat next to me and I could feel their body heat. When I peeked up from my arms, I saw Santana staring back at me. She looked worried.

"You forgot your jacket." She said quietly as she lifted my pea coat around my shoulders. I sniffled and hugged it tighter around my body.

"I'd ask if you're okay, but clearly that question would be rhetorical…" She looked at her hand, which was hovering over my shoulder, and then she dropped it back down to her own knee.

I gave her a confused look and then she sighed sadly.

"So what happened in there?" She was searching my face now, trying to figure out the answer.

"Sorry..." I mumbled. I was still pretty drunk and words were difficult. "I just… I really love that song." I buried my face back in my arms, I could hear my voice getting shaky and I knew the tears were returning.

I heard Santana shift, and I knew that she probably felt awkward. But then I felt her hand on my back again.

"Is that song special to you?" She asked quietly.

I nodded in to my arms and then spoke. My voice sounded muffled because I was speaking in to my jacket.

"That was my dad's song for me." My voice cracked. "He used to play it when I was little and we would dance to it."

I heard her exhale and then the hand on my back started to rub back and forth.

"When did he pass away?" She asked. I could feel the cloud of her warm breath lingering around my head in the cold air.

"Two years ago." I lifted my head from my arms and started wiping my eyes with my jacket. Talking to Santana was making me feel a little bit better.

"He was sick for a long time." I had stopped crying now. "Colon cancer." I said quietly as I looked out toward the street blankly.

We sat in silence for a few moments before she spoke.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. And then she put her arm fully around my body and pulled me in to her. I rested my head on her shoulder and let a few tears trickle down my face. She slowly rubbed my arm and I let my eyes close.

"Brittany! There you are!" I whipped my head around to see Sam standing outside the entrance to Burt's. Santana immediately let go of me and I felt her move away.

Sam looked at us, confused at first – but then he saw my tears and his face softened. He walked over to us and squatted down in front of me. He lifted up a finger and wiped away a tear that had only made it halfway down my cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Brittany." He said sadly. "The second I heard that song, I tried to get them to turn it off. But by the time they changed it, you were gone."

I nodded slowly and then smiled up at him weakly. "It's okay." I sniffled. "I guess I just wasn't expecting it. I'm fine now though." I started to stand up and both Sam and Santana reached for my arms to help me.

"C'mon, let's go home." Sam said as he put his arm around my waist. "Santana, would you mind grabbing everyone else while I hail us a cab?" Santana nodded, locked eyes with me briefly, and then turned to head inside.

By the time we had all assembled on the street corner, no one could tell that I had been crying. Though, I'm pretty sure no one would have noticed, anyway – because all of them, except for Santana and Sam, were super drunk.

A cab arrived and Sam helped me in, then he shut the door and went to sit in the front so that he could give the driver directions. I rested my head against the cold window and stared outside. I felt someone squeeze in next to me, but I just closed my eyes and tried to forget about the last 30 minutes.

I heard Quinn going on about how tired she was, and she sounded so loud - so I assumed it must be her. Then I felt a hand rest lightly on my knee, so I turned my head slowly against the window to find its owner.

Santana was smiling back at me. Her eyes looked sad, and her smile was small – but it made me feel so warm. I smiled back at her and then closed my eyes again. Her hand didn't move the entire way home.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello hello! Thanks so much for the reviews! I'm glad people are enjoying the story so far. :)**

**Songs from this chapter are listed below. Enjoy!**

_[youtube].com/watch?v=DNXwicxlsvI (Tighten Up - The Black Keys)_

_[youtube].com/watch?v=WLTI2rWAlV4 (Turn Me On - David Guetta)_

_[youtube].com/watch?v=H-0OuRVCAK8&ob=av2e (Where Have You Been - Rihanna)_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

I stared down in to the bottom of my mug. My head was resting on my hands and my eyes started to droop closed. I tried to shake away the sleep and turned The Black Keyes up on my iPod. I had the world's worst headache, but at least my "Hangover" playlist was better than the Celine Dion CD Rachel was playing over the speakers in Muggy's.

I had come here to get out of the apartment, since I had been lying in bed all morning after Mercedes' party - but now I was worried that I was either going to throw up or fall asleep in public.

Suddenly another mug of hot chocolate appeared next to my empty one. I smiled and looked up to find that Rachel had taken a seat across from me.

I pulled my headphones out of my ears and waited for her to say something, because my brain was already working too hard to fight the headache.

"So… how are you feeling this morning?" She asked.

"Like Regina George after she got hit by that bus," I said honestly.

Rachel looked confused for a moment, but then continued speaking. "So I… I wanted to apologize for what I said last night."

I tried to remember what she could be talking about, but gave up when I started thinking about how nice Santana had been when I was crying. I wondered what she was doing right now.

"I wanted to apologize for bringing up your sexuality… in front of everyone." She whispered. She looked so sincere, so I let her continue.

"As a child with two dads, I'm absolutely ashamed of myself for being so careless. I know the damage an announcement like that can do – and I…" She looked like she was going to cry, so I reached out and put my hand over her fist.

"Rachel, it's okay," I laughed. "I mean, it's not okay… because you're right, that's not cool. But I'm not mad." I took my hand away and placed it on my mug. Rachel was smiling at me now through watery eyes.

"I just don't get why people care so much." I was thinking out loud now. I'd never really thought about this stuff before, and now people were making me feel like I should. "It's not that exciting… and, I mean, how can anyone be 100% sure that they'll only ever be attracted to guys or girls?" I shrugged. "I bet there are _more _people out there who have been or could be attracted to the same sex at some point in their lives than there are completely straight people… but they either hide it, or don't realize that they're allowed to feel that way. Sometimes it's hard for people to admit things that go against who they think they are." I plucked out a marshmallow from the mug and ate it. "Like last week, Sam actually admitted that 'The Hurt Locker' deserved to win Best Picture… over _Avatar_." I shook my head in disbelief. "I know that was really hard for him, but I had to avoid him for the rest of the day… because I was pretty sure someone else had taken over his body."

Rachel smiled at me in a way I hadn't seen her smile before. "Brittany, I couldn't have said it better myself." She laughed and stood up from the table. "Do you want anything else?" She asked as she reached for a piece of paper on the counter and started taping it to the register.

"No thanks." I wrapped up my headphones and stowed my iPod in my bag. "I actually have to go meet with Darius to go over a few routines for next week." I looked up at the sign she had posted and frowned.

"'Now Hiring'? Are you not working here anymore?"

Rachel laughed. "I'm not the only person who works here, you know. We're looking for someone to fill a few shifts."

My phone buzzed and I looked down to see that I had a text. I raised one eyebrow because I didn't recognize the number, but made sure to say goodbye to Rachel before I opened it.

I bundled up and left the cafe, and - once I had my favorite fingerless gloves on - I pulled out my phone again. I opened the text and immediately smiled.

_Hey, it's Santana. Are you dead? Check yes or no. _

_PS – I text like an 80 year old, so keep acronyms to a minimum, por favor._

I didn't understand most of her second line, or why anyone would include spiders in a text… but I laughed anyway and typed out a quick response.

_You didn't give an option for maybe. My heart monitor looks like this right now …. _

_Is that bad? _

I smiled again and kept walking toward the studio, I loved watching my breath plume out in front of me and then wisp away. It was one of my favorite things about winter – other than snow, of course.

My phone buzzed again and I nearly dropped it with excitement… but before I could read her text, I felt someone tapping my shoulder. My eyes shot up in confusion, who would be touching me in the middle of New York City? I hoped it wasn't a homeless person, because I didn't have any cash.

"Brittany! I- I can't believe it! It's been donkey's years!"

I smiled wide as I took in the face of Rory Flannigan. He had been an exchange student from Ireland who had lived with my family for a semester when he was a Freshman and I was a Senior. "Rory!" I yelled and pulled him in to a big hug.

"Wha-… what are you doing here?" I asked frantically, I was so excited to see someone I knew in the middle of such a huge city."Did your whole family move here?"

He laughed, "No, no… I'm in my last semester of college at NYU. Can you believe it? A fool eegit like me in the big city?" I giggled, I never really could understand Rory when he spoke.

We caught up for another 10 minutes there in the street. I felt so bad for forgetting to write him after I graduated from high school, but he understood – because he had been there when my dad had been diagnosed. He looked so sad when I told him what had happened, and he asked if it would be okay if he sent my mom and Maggie a letter. The last time he had seen Maggie, she had been 7 – and I had convinced her that Rory was a leprechaun. I smiled fondly at the memories, but then remembered that I was supposed to be meeting Darius. I told Rory that I had to go – but that we should meet up again soon. I pulled out my phone to type in his number and got excited again when I remembered Santana's texts. They were like a present, patiently waiting for me in my phone. I gave Rory one last big hug and started walking quickly to make up time. I laughed when I finally read what she had written.

_It's only bad if this is the doctor texting me, pretending to be you…_

_But glad you're alive, Britt._

I smiled at the nickname and typed back a simple smiley face as a response before pushing open the door to the studio and shaking off the cold. Darius was standing by the stereo equipment next to Mike Chang, so I made my way over to them.

"Hey Brittany!" Mike moved forward to give me a hug. I had seen him around the studio a few times since my welcome party, but he wasn't able to hang out with all of us very often because he was super busy. Mike was going to business school at Columbia, and he also helped Darius with the finances for the studio in his spare time. He was the one who had told Sam about the job opening and put me in touch with Darius in the first place.

"Brittany – girl, what the hell are you wearing?" Darius laughed and pointed toward my big fluffy animal hat. I smiled and looked at myself in the mirror – I loved this hat.

Darius just chuckled again and shook his head. I knew he loved my quirkiness. "So," he clapped his hands together. "We don't have a heavy schedule for this week, unfortunately. NBC decided against the dance sequence they wanted us to do for 30 Rock on Tuesday." I frowned, that was the second job we had lost in the past week.

"Do we still have the Ke$ha video on Thursday?" I asked as I put my bag down in the corner and started removing my jacket.

Mike and Darius both nodded, but then Darius looked worriedly at Mike and then back at me. "Honestly, I'm starting to sweat a bit over our job line-up for the next few months." He rubbed the back of his neck. "We can't afford to lose anything else."

I nodded and started to stretch, I was deep in thought. "What do we need to do to make sure that doesn't happen?" I asked.

Mike spoke now. "Things aren't bad… yet. But, if they get worse – then you guys may need to start asking the dancers to come in less frequently… at least until the workload picks up again." I frowned, I knew that less time in the studio meant smaller paychecks... and I didn't want anyone to be unhappy.

I looked up at Darius and Mike determinedly. "I'll take a pay cut."

Darius immediately started shaking his head. "No way, that's not necessary Brittany." He reached down and helped pull me up from the floor. "I appreciate your selflessness though." He smiled wearily before walking over to the stereo and plugging in an iPod.

Mike patted my shoulder. "Don't worry too much, Brittany. We just wanted to keep you in the loop." I nodded as he started to head for the door. "And tell the old roomies they owe me a Halo marathon!"

I laughed and waved goodbye to Mike before turning back to Darius. "So what do you want to do on Tuesday instead?"

Darius let out a big sigh. "I think I might just give everyone Tuesday off… it'll be my Valentine's Day present to you guys." He laughed now and walked back over to the iPod.

I smiled and finally removed my hat. I had forgotten that Valentine's Day was next week, even though my mom had already sent me a care package two weeks in advance. She was worried that the New York postal workers would deliver it to the wrong address… which would have worried me, too – because then someone else would be wearing my fuzzy pink socks right now.

For the next three hours, Darius and I planned out and practiced the routines we would be working on for the next week. I didn't even care that I was hungover and that it was a Saturday – because this felt better than any Advil or hot chocolate.

As I made my way home that afternoon, all I could think about was how to protect myself and the studio if things got worse. I'd only been working there a few weeks, but I had already grown to love the dancers and Darius as if they were family. By the time I had reached my apartment, my mind was made up. I typed out a quick text to Rachel.

_About that job opening… I'll teach you a new hot chocolate recipe if you teach me the rest. :) _

By Sunday morning, I was working part time at Muggy's.

/

"How can you _not_ tell that that's a fucking washing machine? Look at the little cardigan spinning around!" Eric yelled and buried his face in his hands.

Everyone was cracking up while his boyfriend, James, patted him on the head and handed him another glass of wine.

It was Monday night and I had ended up at my friends', Eric and Marcus', apartment with a small group of dancers for wine and Pictionary night. My stomach hurt from laughing so much, and I was proud because I had just put our team in the lead by drawing the best "Fat Cats" anyone had ever seen during an All Play round. I still didn't understand why the other team had chosen to draw business men and money – were they trying to lose?

Marcus sidled up to me on the couch and nudged my shoulder. "Sooo… what's your opinion on Liam?" He took a sip of his wine and tried to look nonchalant. I laughed and nudged him back.

"I knew you were trying to set me up!" I punched him lightly in the arm and he started laughing and trying to shush me.

"Wellll? Are you interested?" His eyes traveled over to Liam, who had gone to the kitchen to get more food for the table. "Because anyone with two eyes and a sex radar gun can catch the way he's been staring you. Boy's in love with the Britts." He giggled.

I rolled my eyes and laughed as I followed Marcus' gaze. Liam was a friend of theirs who was apparently a popular DJ in the city… which explained his great taste in music, and also why he was going to be spinning at the club we were going to later tonight. Liam was definitely attractive, and had an adorable English accent that I could barely understand – but for some reason, I started to think about Santana at that exact moment. I hadn't seen or heard from her in a few days – which I guess wasn't strange – but I kept wondering when I'd get to see her again. Maybe the next time I was home I could pretend I needed sugar and go knock on her door.

Suddenly I realized that Marcus' hand was waving in my face. "Earth to Brittany," he laughed. "You never answered my quest…." He trailed off because now Liam was returning to tell everyone that he needed to head over to the club to start his set for the night. Marcus made suggestive eyes at me and I pushed him away playfully as we all waved goodbye and pulled a card for the next round.

An hour and a half later we were all tipsy and ready to head out… so we made our way to "Rumours", which was a club in Hell's Kitchen that was known for its gay friendly crowd and incredible dancing. The doors opened and revealed what appeared to be hundreds of people dancing, as lasers and colored lights pulsed to the beat around them. There was a large open area, surrounded by quieter VIP booths on a slightly higher second tier and a stage for the DJ that overlooked the dance floor. I could see Liam jamming from behind his turntables. My friend Cassie grabbed me before I got lost and we all headed to the bar.

We quickly made friends with the bartender and before we knew it, we were three shots deep and I was halfway through my vodka cranberry. Eric grabbed me and lead me out to the dance floor, where we laughed and bounced up and down to the music around each other.

After a few songs, Marcus tapped me on the shoulder and pointed up to the DJ booth. Liam was waiving and motioning for me to come up and join him. My eyes grew wide and I nearly sprinted up the stairs. I was so excited to see a real DJ booth and to look out on everyone dancing below.

"So what do you think?" He yelled over the bass. I couldn't really hear him so I just nodded excitedly. Liam laughed and pointed towards the turntables. "Wanna try?" I saw him mouth as he handed me a pair of headphones. My smile grew even wider and I shuffled in closer to look at his laptop. He pointed to the screen and showed me how he chose songs based on beats per minute. He was currently playing a song that was 128 bpms – so I just had to choose other songs that were in that range. I scrolled through and found two of my current favorites, so I highlighted them and smiled as Liam nodded and added them to the playlist.

"You're a natural!" He yelled and motioned for me to wait a moment while he set up for the song change. He started scratching the records and everyone cheered as the new song started cutting in. It was one of the songs I had chosen, David Guetta's "Turn Me On."

"They love it!" Liam smiled at me and then stepped back from the tables to give me a high five. I looked out in to the crowd and could see my dancer friends jumping up and down – I had chosen this song for them, because we had been practicing a routine to it earlier today. I laughed and suddenly I didn't want to be in the DJ booth anymore – there was nowhere to dance up here.

I started taking off the headphones and Liam put his hand over one of mine. I stilled and I waited for him to say something. He looked so nervous all of a sudden.

"Brittany, look - I was wondering …ehh do you, maybe… wanna go ou-"

"Brittttannnnyyyy!" I heard my friends yell over the crowd and looked down to see them all waiving for me to join them.

I turned back to Liam and tried to wait patiently for him to finish whatever he had been saying… but my eyes kept darting down to the dance floor and I knew that I was fidgeting in place. Finally he just smiled and waved for me to go join my friends. I squealed happily and leaned in to give him a quick hug. He was so nice for showing me all of this. "We'll talk later!" he called after me as I ran down to finally join everyone on the floor.

The routine was completely unpolished, but within 30 seconds a small group had formed around us and people were cheering and clapping. I was laughing and could feel my limbs moving perfectly to the beat, even though everything around me was slightly blurry and my face felt sort of numb.

As the song came to an end, everyone clapped for us and random people were patting me on the back and asking me who I was. I smiled and tried to talk to them, but I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was staring at me. I looked up just as the song changed and my eyes were met with dark chocolate brown.

_"I've been everywhere, man… looking for someone…" _

My heart stopped and everything seemed to move in slow motion. Santana was standing 10 feet away from me – frozen as bodies pulsed around her. There was no mistaking that her eyes were fixed directly on me.

_"I've been everywhere, man… looking for you, babe…" _

I made a beeline directly for her as the music swelled.

_"Looking for you, babe… searching for you, babe…"_

I was too drunk to care about her reaction when I walked almost directly in to her body, leaned my head down and yelled in to her ear. "Dance with me!" I had my hands on her shoulder now and I felt her lean in to me slightly. She turned her head toward mine and I could feel her nod slightly against my hair. I could also smell the alcohol on her breath as I shifted and grabbed her hands.

_"Wheeere have you beeen, alllll my li-iiife…"_

She stumbled a bit as I pulled her toward me, so I grabbed her waist to keep her steady. She recovered quickly though and put her hands on my shoulders. There was still a good bit of distance between us, but I was so excited that she was here, and I didn't want to scare her off… so I just grabbed her hands in mine and playfully spun her around a few times.

She was smiling now and let me get a little bit closer when she came back from the last spin.

Every nerve in my body was screaming for me to touch her. I wanted to turn them off, because I wasn't used to this feeling and I was afraid that I might do something to make Santana uncomfortable if I didn't stop. I could barely believe that she was inches from body and letting me touch her.

But she _was_ letting me touch her. And now she was pulling me closer.

I felt greedy as I let my hands travel to her waist, then move up her sides and across her arms – until they reached her fingertips, which were now digging in to my neck. I removed her hands and lifted them above our heads. Our fingers laced together and I felt her thighs shift and rub against my own - we were so close now. I could hear her breathing, rough and ragged in my ear… and then she pulled away.

She took a few steps back and turned to look at me over her shoulder. She was smiling like she knew she was the sexiest person in the room, and I felt my throat go dry as she started moving her hips slowly and dropping to the floor. She let her own hands travel over her knees, her thighs, her hips, and then up her sides and over the curve of her chest as she rose. She was facing me now and she laughed as she playfully beckoned me with one finger.

I couldn't tell if she knew what she was doing to me, or if this was how she danced with everyone - so I just smiled and extended my hand to her. She raised one eyebrow, but then placed her hand in mine and let me twirl her back to me. I dipped her backwards lightly and she started to laugh. When she came back up, she stood up on her tiptoes to speak in to my ear.

"I have to go home after this song. Early shoot tomorrow. "She wasn't trying to be seductive now, but my nerves still tingled when her lips accidently brushed against my ear.

I pulled back just far enough so that she could see my exaggerated pout. She smiled and pulled my ear back toward her.

"Want to share a cab?"

I pulled away again, pretended to be thinking about it hard – and then nodded my head excitedly. Her smile grew even wider and she pointed towards a few people who were dancing nearby. "I'm going to go tell them I'm leaving."

I nodded and pointed at my friends to signify the same thing. She turned and I immediately rushed over to Marcus and tapped him on the shoulder. I yelled in his ear that I was heading out.

He turned away from the guy he was dancing with and gave me a sly smile. "Naughty girl. Who's going to finish the set if you're going home with Liam _already_?"

I rolled my eyes. "I ran in to my neighbor. We're sharing a cab."

He put his hands up and laughed. "Okay, okay! Get home safe, honey. And call me tomorrow." He kissed me on the cheek and turned back to dancing just as Santana appeared by my side. She nodded toward the door and I began to follow her out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Happy almost Valentine's Day! Thanks for the reviews - they definitely make this whole writing thing even more enjoyable. :)**

**Songs for this chapter:**

_[youtube].com/watch?v=35Dzl6KlenE&feature=related (The Wolves Act I & II - Bon Iver) *Sidenote: Yeahhhh best new artist Grammy last night! Guy's super talented... well, maybe not at delivering acceptance speeches. Yikes._

_[youtube].com/watch?v=FJ9EcydHags (Creature Fear - Bon Iver)_

_[youtube].com/watch?v=CusGBZh5V_4 (If It Kills Me - Jason Mraz)_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

The cab ride home was a bit of a blur, but that was probably because I was concentrating so hard on not grabbing Santana's hand that was resting teasingly on the seat between us. I couldn't figure out what had gotten in to me, but my stomach had been twisting in nervous knots ever since I realized that we were alone. We arrived at our building five minutes later and she paid the cabbie before I could offer.

I walked up to the door of the lobby and tried to open it, and then started knocking to my own beat when I realized it was locked. I heard Santana laughing as she walked up behind me.

"You have to use a key fob to get in." She dangled her keys in front of my face. "You know, so that creepers can't randomly come in and steal your shit when you get locked out by your flake of a roommate."

"Ha!" I exclaimed. "See, I told you it was safe here!" She just laughed as she tapped her fob to the sensor and opened the door. We started walking through the lobby and I gave a salute to the concierge, Paul. He was so friendly.

Finally we made it to our floor and I reached in to my jacket for the small clutch that contained my keys. My mouth dropped open and my heart fell to my feet. It was gone.

"Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit." I began to repeat as I started spinning around, searching – as though it would magically appear on the floor in front of me.

"What's wrong?" Santana had stopped and was walking back toward me.

"My purse is gone." I smacked my hand against my forehead. "I must have left it at the club. Or maybe someone stole it!" I was starting to panic now and I ran my hands through my hair.

Santana put her hand on my shoulder and tried to get me to look at her.

"Are any of the guys home? They can just let you in and you can look for your purse tomorrow?" I began to panic more. I knew the boys were still at Burt's and wouldn't be home until after clean up and last call. I shook my head and tears started to brim in my eyes.

"Okay, that's fine. You can just crash on our couch until they get home." She started to lead me toward her door and put the key in the lock. "And don't worry, I know people who have left things at that club before – they're pretty good about keeping a lost and found."

I nodded and started to feel better as she grabbed my hand and lead me in to her apartment. She motioned for me to go sit on the couch and then walked over to the fridge. I sat down and slumped in to the backrest.

My eyes felt heavy, but just as they were about to close I felt the couch dip next to me. I looked over and she was holding a glass of water in front of my face.

"Do you have your phone at least?" She eyed the jacket that I had slipped off and laid across the armrest next to me. My eyes shot open and I eagerly reached for one of the pockets. I pulled out my phone and shook it proudly in my hand.

She laughed. "That's good! Maybe you should text one of your friends to see if they have your purse?" I nodded. She was so smart.

I typed out a quick group text to Marcus, Eric and Cassie and pressed send. We waited in silence, but after about 10 seconds I got distracted by looking around her apartment.

"Where's Quinn?" I noticed her door was open and she obviously wasn't home.

"Umm… San Diego? I think?" Santana mused. "She's out of town for work."

"Ohhh." I nodded and kept looking around until I noticed a record player on a stand in the corner.

"Cool!" I leapt up and made my way over to it. "Do you have any favorites?"

Santana took a swig of the water and placed it on the coffee table in front of her. Then she slowly made her way over to me. "Not really. We bought this as decoration when we first moved in. We haven't used it in awhile." She ran her finger over the needle.

I bent down and started rummaging through the records that were neatly organized underneath the stand. I picked out one I thought I recognized and looked at Santana for approval.

"Go ahead." She nodded.

I didn't really know how record players worked, so I just stuck the needle down randomly on the disc and pressed play. A song started and I relaxed even further as guitars plucked quietly in the background.

"The Wolves." Santana smiled and walked toward the window. "I listened to Bon Iver every day for an entire month when I first moved here." She rested her hands on the windowsill and looked out thoughtfully.

I turned to face her, still standing near the record player. "Why did you move to New York? Was it for your job?"

She contemplated how to answer for a second and then nodded. "Yes. Mostly for my job." She dragged her finger across the windowsill. "But also to get away from home."

I leaned against the wall behind me and clasped my hands behind my back. "Why did you want to leave home?"

She sighed quietly and then looked at me. "Let's just say… I'm not as close to my family as you are." Her eyes looked so heavy. "My mom has only ever been interested in making me famous. It was the only thing she would talk to me about growing up, and the only time we ever – bonded (she spat the word out like it tasted bad) – was when I was offered parts in commercials or photoshoots."

She suddenly straightened up and brushed her hand in the air. "But whatever. She's a bitch. Life goes on."

I gave her a sad smile. "What is she like, now that you have a stable job?"

Santana looked like she might not continue the conversation, but then she wet her lips to speak.

"She was ecstatic at first, but it only took a few months for her to start prodding me about trying to get more screentime and make more appearances."

I nodded. "Well, do YOU like your job?"

She shrugged and turned back to the window. "It pays the bills. And I would be an idiot to complain about it."

"Welll, that doesn't mean that you have to like it." I pointed out. "What does your dad think?"

I saw her freeze slightly and then she turned her head even further away from me.

Her voice sounded rough and shaky when she finally spoke. "He's uh… he passed away when I was ten."

My heart dropped and I immediately understood the look she had given me the first time I met her, right after I had told her about my family. I started to walk toward her and put my hand lightly on her back. She flinched, but didn't move.

"It was sudden. Heart attack." Her voice was still a bit shaky, but the undertones were strong. "He was a doctor… and was never on board with the whole 'stage-mom' thing." She let out a small laugh. "He would tell my mom that he was taking me to an audition, and then we would go get ice cream instead." She smiled and I started rubbing her back.

"When he… died." She shook her head slightly. "My mom told me we were moving to LA. I was about to start middle school, so she just set me up with a private tutor. That way I could take auditions during the day."

"And then you couldn't be Prom Queen." I said sadly.

She laughed quietly and shook her head. "No. Though I'm not so sure I would have been voted Prom Queen anyway." She started drawing a circle in the condensation that lined the window. "People don't really flock to me. I'm not very nice." She shrugged and brought her hand down to the windowsill again.

The song changed and soft voices began humming a soothing melody behind us. I moved closer to her, until I was just inches from her body. I would do anything to show her how wrong she was.

My fingers traveled slowly from the small of her back, up the trail of her spine, and finally landed at the base of her neck. I could feel her exhale as I let the tips of my fingers lightly touch the baby hairs I found there, before I gently pushed it all aside.

Slowly, I leaned down and let my lips graze against her shoulder. I heard her take in a shaky breath - but before she could move, I skated my lips up to her ear and whispered.

"You're SO nice." My nose nudged against her skin. "And SO beautiful." I kissed once below her ear and felt her lean in to me slightly. Her eyes had fluttered shut.

When she didn't move, I let the edges of my lips slowly trace over the shell of her ear. I could feel her trembling under my fingertips, which now rested lightly on her shoulders. My mouth made its way to her neck and my fingers slid slowly down her arms. I smiled in to her skin when I realized that I could feel how fast her heart was beating under my lips. Then I opened my mouth slowly and sucked.

She exhaled loudly and let her head fall to the side. Her hands moved to grip firmly on the windowsill in front of her. My tongue dipped out cautiously, I wanted to taste her skin so bad. She let out a quiet "hmmm" in response, so I let my lips travel back to her shoulder. Then I kissed once, twice… before I slowly pushed the neck of her dress to the side and let my lips ghost over the newly exposed skin there. By now, my hands were on top of hers on the windowsill and our fingers were intertwined.

She squeezed once before turning slowly in my arms to face me. She was shaking her head and her eyes rested briefly on my lips, before shifting to stare at the ground.

"You're drunk." She whispered. I rested my forehead against hers and placed my hands on her waist.

"Not that drunk." I smiled and leaned in to try to kiss her on the nose. But she pulled away further now. I watched her walk over toward the record player and frowned.

"It's been a long night." She sighed. "We're both drunk, exhausted… and fucking Bon Iver is playing." She laughed, but I was still frowning at her. I was so confused.

She shut off the music and walked over to the couch. She started busying herself by pulling out a blanket from underneath the coffee table.

"Here." She set the blanket down on the couch. "There are more blankets where this came from if you get cold. And if you want a different pillow then feel free to grab one from Quinn's room." She motioned towards Quinn's door and still wasn't making eye contact with me.

When she realized that she was out of things to explain, she looked over the room once more and then finally up at me. "Okay, well… goodnight." She said quickly and turned toward her room.

Before I could open my mouth to speak, her door had shut and she was gone.

/

I woke up to my phone buzzing dully on the coffee table next to me. I took a few seconds to adjust to my surroundings before I shot upright and peered over the couch at Santana's room. Her door was open, but she obviously wasn't home.

I turned back to my phone and caught it on the last ring. It was Puck.

"Yo. Santana told me what happened. I'm at the apartment now if you want to make the long journey home." I croaked out a "yes," mumbled goodbye, and then immediately reached for the water to sooth my dry throat. A piece of paper was sticking to the bottom of the glass, so I peeled it off and began to read the note that had been scribbled across its surface.

"Had to leave for the shoot. # for the club is (212) 397-1700. I told Puck to let you in, he knows I'll shave his head if he doesn't answer the door. –S"

My smile grew as I reread her note a few more times and memorized the way her letters looked, but it quickly fell when I remembered what had happened last night. My eyes immediately flicked to the record player, and then to the window – I was still so confused. It felt like I had dreamt the whole thing… but I knew that wasn't the case - because in my dreams, Santana wouldn't have walked away.

I folded the blanket, fluffed out the pillows, and placed my cup in the sink… then I took one last look over the apartment before walking across the hall.

/

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Rachel was beaming as she stepped out from behind the counter at Muggy's. I was tying my apron and she walked up to fasten a heart shaped pin to the left strap.

I looked down, and then back up at her with a confused smile. Then it registered and my eyes grew wide.

Today was Tuesday. So that's why Rachel had covered the counter in hundreds of heart shaped doilies! I quickly reminded myself to send Valentine's Day texts to my mom, Maggie, and my grandpa… well, maybe not to my grandpa… I was pretty sure he didn't know how to text.

Rachel twirled around once and then skipped back behind the counter. "It's like you can feel the energy!" She took a sip of the herbal tea she had made for herself and sighed happily.

I laughed and looked around the café. It was empty - aside from the old man who came in on Tuesdays and Thursdays to read the paper. Usually he was alone, but today he was sitting and holding hands with a woman who appeared to be his wife. I smiled and couldn't help it when my mind drifted back to Santana.

I had been thinking about her all morning… and I still didn't understand why she pulled away so suddenly. Was it because of Blaine? I doubted it, since she had said that they weren't really together like _that…_but maybe she was afraid of hurting his feelings? No, that couldn't be right either – because something told me that Santana didn't really care about whether or not she made Blaine sad.

My brow furrowed as I considered the possibility that maybe she didn't want me to kiss her. Maybe she had just felt awkward asking me to stop. I hoped that wasn't the case, but I would respect her feelings if that's what she wanted.

But then I started to think about the way she had closed her eyes and leaned in to my touch… how she had hummed when I touched her skin with my tongue, and how badly she had trembled under my fingertips. I smiled when I remembered how good she smelled and how warm her skin had been. I knew I wanted her… and I was pretty sure she wanted me too.

While this explanation seemed simple to me, I knew that Santana was probably thinking about it too much – and that's why she had pulled away. I wanted to find her and tell her that it wasn't a big deal, but honestly - I didn't know what to say.

I couldn't even explain to myself what had been happening over the last few weeks. All I knew was that I felt nervous and excited and warm every time I saw her. When I was with her, all I wanted to do was make her laugh – and when we were apart, all I did was _think_ about what I would do or say the next time I saw her.

I wasn't used to this feeling, but I wanted to feel this way all the time.

Just then, Rachel waved me out of my thoughts.

"Brittany," she laughed. "Did you hear anything I just said?"

I laughed and shook my head. "Sorry."

"It's alright," she smiled. "I was just asking if you had a Valentine." She gave me a sly smile. "But judging from your incessant daydreaming, and the way you just blushed – I would say that's a yes!"

I immediately started shaking my head, but I knew that it wasn't very convincing. Did I have a Valentine? Was Santana my Valentine? I mean, I knew I liked her – but the other person had to definitely like you back for them to be your Valentine. Right?

Rachel laughed. "Okaaay. Well, if you don't tell me who it is… then I won't tell you who I'm hoping will be mine!"

I smiled and rolled my eyes. "I know the answer to that already though."

Rachel looked alarmed and immediately began rearranging the pastries. I could tell the subject was going to be dropped, which was fine with me.

I started flipping through my iPod to create a special Valentine's Day playlist and waited for more customers to come in. It was early afternoon, and Rachel had told me that we usually weren't very busy during this time. Our shifts only overlapped by 30 minutes, so now she was removing her apron and doing final clean up.

I started playing the first song and went to join her behind the counter. After a few seconds, I noticed that Rachel had stopped wiping down the coffee machine and now she was just standing, listening to the lyrics.

_"Well all I really wanna do is love you… a kind much closer than friends use…"_

Her eyes grew wide and she turned toward me.

"Oh my god. It's Sam. It's Sam isn't it!" She looked like she had just discovered the answer to a murder mystery.

I gave her a confused look – what was she talking about?

_"And all I really want from you is to feel me, as the feeling inside keeps building…"_

She walked over to me and started shaking my arm. She was smiling wide and she looked so proud of herself. "I knew it! I absolutely knew it! You two are going to have the most adorable blonde babies."

My eyes grew wide with understanding and I started laughing. "Rachel, are you crazy? Sam's like my brother – if I had babies with him… they would be insects."

"That's incest, Brittany… not insects." Rachel said absentmindedly as she returned to trying to solve the puzzle. I watched as her mouth dropped open slightly and her face paled. She released my arm and took a step back.

"Is it Finn?" She asked quietly. Her eyes searched the floor and she looked like she was terrified to hear my answer.

I tried not to laugh - because she looked so sad - but I couldn't help but smile as I responded. "No Rachel, it's definitely _not _Finn."

She smiled wide and her excitement returned. "So then there _is_ someone!" She pointed at me and all I could do was smile and shake my head.

Just then, the bell above the door jingled and someone entered the cafe. We both turned our heads and I immediately froze.

Rachel looked confused. "Santana? What are you doing here? You never come in here." She said matter-of-factly and crossed her arms over her chest.

I still didn't think I was breathing. I hadn't expected to see Santana again so soon. What if I didn't say the right things? I hadn't had enough time to plan for this.

Santana just rolled her eyes as she approached the counter. "You know, Rachel – maybe I'd pay more attention to you if I didn't have to pull out a magnifying glass every time you spoke." She placed her purse down and cocked her head to the side challengingly.

Rachel huffed and reached for her jacket. "You know, Santana - I thought that maybe, just maybe… you would make an exception on Valentine's Day." I noted the way Santana's eyes bugged slightly and how she started to take in the heart decorations scattered around the room. She must have forgotten it was Valentine's Day, too.

Rachel grabbed her purse and started heading for the door. She paused as she reached for the handle and looked back at Santana. "Apparently my expectations were just too high." And with that, Rachel waved to me and walked out the door.

Santana turned back to face me and rolled her eyes again as the door banged shut behind her. "So…" She took in my appearance and her eyes stopped on the heart pin. "I ran in to Guppy Face earlier… he said you were starting your 'Save the Dancer' campaign by working here?" She smiled and said the last part in a playful tone.

"_Sam_," I corrected her through a smile. "Likes to exaggerate sometimes. I'm working here because I wanted to make extra money… and because I get bored when I have too much free time." I shrugged and placed my hands on the counter in front of me.

She nodded slowly and looked over at the old couple in the corner. I thought I saw the hint of a smile in her eyes as she watched them exchange sections of the paper without looking up from their pages. I smiled too, but then I swallowed hard as the memories of last night came flooding back to me.

I still didn't know what to say… but I knew that I wanted to talk about it. I talked about everything, even if talking about things made me feel uncomfortable. I knew that talking was always better than holding your feelings inside.

I decided I would just thank her for helping me out when I'd lost my purse… that was a good start, right? I cleared my throat to speak and she turned back to face me.

"So, about last night–" Her eyes grew wide and she immediately put her hand up.

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there. Let's not make this in to something bigger than it is. Mmmkay?" She raised one eyebrow.

I frowned. "I wasn't… I just -"

"I'm kind of like the tin man - _before_ he meets the wizard," she shrugged. "So don't go filling up that head of yours with anything that even remotely resembles the lyrics to a Taylor Swift song. We clear?" I nodded, but tried to continue speaking – she cut me off again.

"I get that it's Valentine's Day, and for some reason that seems to turn everyone in to Pepe Le Pew, but-"

"Santana!" I finally interrupted her. "It's fine. I get it. I just wanted to say thanks for letting me sleep on your couch." She slowly closed her mouth and looked slightly thrown off.

"Now what do you want?" I asked. My tone was light, but I was kind of annoyed.

"A medium coffee… to go." She said hesitantly. She started eyeing me suspiciously – as if she were waiting for me to backtrack on what I had just said. I turned to make her order and kept my back to her. I didn't really feel like staring at her right now, which was a first - but I wasn't going to reward her for speaking to me that way.

"So, did you find your purse?" I heard her ask quietly from behind me.

"Yep." I said, my tone short, as I poured coffee in to a cup. "One of my friends had it." I placed a lid on top and turned around to hand it to her. "Here you go."

She took it and paid, but I could tell that she was trying to read me. I think she was thrown off by how little I was talking.

Finally, she sighed. "Look, Brittany… I'm sorry if-"

"Santana, seriously – it's fine." I started wiping the counter in front of me and looked up to give her a half-smile. "If you need cream or sugar, they're over by the straws." I pointed to the little bar on the opposite wall. "Do you need anything else?" I raised one eyebrow and waited.

Her eyes narrowed and she studied me once more before shaking her head slowly. "No, I'm good." I watched as she put her wallet back in her purse and started to turn away from the counter… then she paused and turned her head slightly toward me.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Britt." She said it quickly and she sounded so awkward… I could tell that she had probably never said those words before in her life. I tried to hold back the smile that was tugging at my lips as I watched her walk out the door.

/

By the time I left Muggy's that evening, I was exhausted. I had spent the several hours after Santana left thinking about what she had said and how she had said it. I knew that she wanted me to think that she didn't care and never would – but I also knew that there was more to her than that. I knew this because I saw the way she looked at me, and because I saw the way her features softened whenever she said my name. I knew because I heard the way her voice lost its bite whenever she spoke to me, and because I would never forget those things she had told me about her family. I wondered if she had ever shared those stories with another person.

I sighed as I placed my key in the door and pushed it open. I was immediately welcomed by the smell of something delicious, and I saw Finn hovering over the stove deep in concentration. He looked up and smiled when he realized it was me.

I gave him a confused look. "Aren't you supposed to be working tonight?"

He shook his head and started turning something in the pot in front of him. "We worked all day and asked for tonight off."

I was opening my mouth to ask why, when Sam appeared from his room holding a bouquet of flowers. His smile was huge as he made his way over to me.

"These are for you." He said as he handed me the flowers. "For Valentine's Day."

My eyes nearly popped out of my head as I looked at the flowers, back up at Sam, and then over to Finn.

"Wha- what? Why?" I said, shaking my head and cracking a smile as I smelled the flowers. "Wild flowers, my favorite!"

"Four years in a row as your homecoming date, and you don't think I would remember your favorite flowers?" He raised an eyebrow and punched me playfully in the arm.

Just then, Puck walked in the door behind me. "I got the booze! Let's do this thing!"

I laughed and looked around at all three of them questioningly. "What's going on?"

Sam chuckled and walked over to the couch. "Well, it's Valentine's Day… and none of us have Valentines." I smiled, but looked over at Puck.

"Well, technically Puck does – but Quinn's still out of town." Finn corrected. I frowned and looked towards Puck, who had now taken a seat on the couch next to Sam and was pulling a bottle of red wine out from a paper bag.

"Don't worry, he sent her chocolates like the whipped little puppy dog he truly is." Sam said with a sly smile. Puck looked startled and then turned to hit Sam in the back of the head.

Sam got up from the couch and walked over to me. "We figured that… when you combine me getting you flowers, Finn cooking us dinner, and Puck, well – being a lazy ass… we become the perfect Valentine."

"A lazy ass who provides you with the booze." Puck added.

"So …" Sam laughed. "Will you be our Valentine, Brittany?"

My smile was bigger than I had remembered it being in a long time, in fact - it felt like my mouth might actually break my face in two. I squealed with happiness and pulled Sam in to a tight hug. He laughed and squeezed me back.

"You guys are the best." My voice was muffled because I was speaking in to his chest.

"Well, then we'll take that as a yes." Sam smiled as he finally let go. "Gentleman, looks like we have ourselves a Valentine!"

Over the next hour, the four of us ate Finn's homemade tortellini, drank wine, and talked about our highs and lows of the year so far. Just as we were cleaning up and settling down to watch a romantic comedy of my choosing, my phone buzzed.

My heart skipped a beat, hoping that maybe it was Santana – but I still smiled when I saw that it was Mercedes.

_Hey girl. In the market for a Valentine? Because there two lonely hearts over here looking for company._

I immediately responded to Mercedes, inviting her and Rachel to join us… and within 30 minutes, all of us were huddled around the coffee table playing Apples to Apples and drinking more wine.

I was so happy, and I felt incredibly content as I looked around at my friends. Finn was cracking up and Rachel had tears in her eyes from laughing after Puck had started running around the room to celebrate winning his first card of the game. Sam and Mercedes kept teasing each other over who was going to win, and I wondered if either of them realized how cute they were.

As everyone talked and laughed around me, I couldn't help but wonder what Santana was doing at that exact moment. I wondered if maybe – just maybe – she was thinking about how tonight, I should have been her Valentine.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! Sorry that this chapter is coming a little later than planned... was being a booger last week, so I wasn't able to upload before heading out of town. Maybe FF secretly ships Brittana and died after The Kiss? Yeah, that's the most likely scenario.**

**Anywho! The only song worth listening to for this chapter is Jessie J's "Domino"** _([youtube].com/watch?v=gfmQuSoys7g). _**So, enjoy and - as always - thanks so, so much for the reviews. I'm happy to see the positive response to Britt's friendship with the boys, since it's loosely based off of my real life living situation. :) Boys have cooties, but they make for great roommates. True Fact. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

"Oh my god – I can't feel my legs." Mercedes groaned as she slid down the wall. "Seriously, how do you do this… as a _profession_?"

I laughed as I took a swig from my water bottle. Mercedes had agreed to join me for zumba classes at the studio… and I think she was regretting it, because now she kind of looked like she wanted to die.

"Nuh uh… I am not cut out for this. Go on without me." She waived her hand in the air and started wiping her forehead with a towel.

Cassie walked over and started laughing while trying to pull Mercedes back up. She was the one instructing the class – probably because she was really good at pumping everyone up with her random "ay ay ay!"s and warrior battle cries – so she wasn't about to let Mercedes give up.

"Oh no you don't," Cassie chuckled – and now Mercedes was finally laughing and moving to stand up again. "We need to increase your endurance for that Broadway stage, missy."

Mercedes continued to wipe her forehead as she raised an eyebrow. "Have you_ seen_ Dreamgirls? The whole point of me going for the role of Effie is so that I can be my lazy ass self – full time."

Cassie laughed and shook her head. "Okay, well then let's increase your endurance for other things… like, say… sex?" She waggled her eyebrows.

My eyes bugged and I nearly spit out my water. Cassie had only met Mercedes an hour ago, and now she was talking to her about sex. I knew Cassie's zany personality, but Mercedes didn't – I looked over hesitantly at Mercedes to gauge her reaction.

Mercedes was just chuckling and shaking her head. "If someone were tapping this, then maybe I'd listen to your tall tales… but this fine piece of woman is decidedly single." Mercedes proudly snapped her fingers in the air and then placed her hands on her hips.

"Oh, it's not a tall tale, honey." Cassie responded over her shoulder as she went to set up the next song. "Ask Britt – It's a fact. Dancers are fucking _fantastic _in bed." My eyes bugged again. "Although, Liam wouldn't know," Cassie added, "since Britt left him high and dry for the _neighbo_r last week."

Mercedes' jaw dropped open slightly and both of her eyebrows popped up as she turned to me. I scowled at Cassie. My dancer friends had been making fun of me all week for the Liam thing. He had asked for my number from Eric and texted me a few days later to ask if I wanted to grab coffee sometime. He apologized when he remembered that I _worked_ at a coffee shop, but I thought it was funny and said that he could stop by any time.

"Wait, what?" Mercedes held up one finger and looking at me curiously. "Who are all of these people? Liam, the _neighbor_… why haven't I heard about these hook-ups, Brittany? And oh my god – please say the neighbor isn't Jacob Ben Israel. Last week he asked me if I was his 'Valentine's Day Chocolate'." She made a disgusted face and waited for me to respond.

Cassie spoke over me before I could answer. "That's because they weren't hook-ups. Look at this face." She pinched my cheek playfully. "Does this look like the face of a triflin' hoe?"

I looked over at my face in the mirror and could only assume what Cassie meant, which made my cheeks blush. Mercedes was laughing and shaking her head. I guess it was nice that my friends assumed I didn't sleep around, because I didn't – but that didn't mean I wasn't good at sex. Because I knew I was, even though I hadn't slept with that many people.

Ben had been my first, in high school. I mean, I had made out and done other stuff with guys before, and Junior year I somehow ended up kissing and rubbing our team captain Courtney over the panties at cheer camp – but Ben was my first relationship, and I knew I wanted to be dating the first person I had real sex with. I remember he was really proud afterwards and he even described what we had done to his friends – or, at least, some of what we had done… the rest I'm pretty sure he made up, or I wasn't paying attention when it happened. I didn't really like that Ben shared those things with people, but I guess that was better than when Courtney had cried and said she would kill me if I told anyone. To be honest, the whole first time sex thing wasn't as fun as I thought it would be – so I kept trying new things to make it more fun, which Ben really liked – but I never seemed to feel as good as him afterwards. That was part of the reason I was so relieved when he finally broke up with me.

Luke was better, because he was really sweet and I was actually attracted to him – but things didn't last very long between us because I had too much going on with my dad's Big C to give our relationship much attention. Luke said that he would be there for me, and he was – but I knew that I only wanted him to be there as a friend.

The months leading up to my dad's death weren't my proudest – because I had ended up sleeping with random guys after drinking too much on a few occasions. I thought it would make me feel better, to be closer to someone like that when the rest of my world was falling apart - but it just made me feel more detached from everything, including myself. When my dad died a few months later, so did my drive to be with anyone in that way. I devoted all of my attention to my family and didn't really go out anymore – not that there was much to do, because most of my friends from home had either left Lima already or had settled down with babies and houses. In fact, if I was really honest with myself – Santana was the first person in years that I had wanted to… _you know._

Crap. There she was again in my head. I kept trying this thing where I didn't think about her – but then it only made me think about her more. It didn't help that I hadn't heard from her since that afternoon at Muggy's. I wanted her to know that I was fine just being friends with her if that's what she wanted, but I also didn't want to overwhelm her. She seemed like the type of person that needed space in situations like this… which was super hard for me to do, because when I liked something – I wanted to have it all the time. I liked Santana, even though she confused me more than that Inception movie. But I liked that she was complex, because it meant that she was more of a challenge for me to figure out – and figuring people out was kind of my specialty. I just hoped that it didn't mean that one of us had to jump out of a hotel window or end up in a crumbling city – because that seemed kind of dramatic, even for Leonardo DiCaprio.

Mercedes and I finished up zumba and began to make our way home. I usually took the Subway to get to the studio, but it was a nice day out – so we decided to walk the 30 minutes to our apartments. We were about half way there when we turned a corner and were immediately stopped by a small crowd of people and a barricade. There was a policeman standing by the short metal fence and he was instructing everyone to be quiet because filming was about to start.

"Dammit." Mercedes huffed. "One of the _joys_ of living in New York City, I suppose… Come on, let's see if we can find a way around." I tried to pretend that I wasn't curious as I followed Mercedes to the corner of the street. We were waiting for the light to change when I heard the teenagers next to me start to freak out.

"Oh my god. Oh my god. Santana Lopez!" A girl squealed behind me. Mercedes and I both whipped our heads around at the same time to see Santana approaching the crowd. She was dressed in a red and black cheerleading outfit and was wearing a big black down jacket over top. Her face was serious as she began to sign autographs, but she would give a small smile whenever someone complimented her or her character. The walk sign lit up, but Mercedes just pulled me over to the end of the barricade and called out Santana's name.

She must have recognized Mercedes' voice, because she immediately looked up and smirked. I watched her eyes go wide for a second when she saw me, but then she quickly collected herself and walked over to us. I saw her looking us both up and down as she approached and she laughed when she saw Mercedes' workout clothes.

"Wheezy – working out? I hope you're not trying to go all Jennifer Hudson on us." She crossed her arms over her chest and raised one eyebrow.

Mercedes laughed. I was starting to pick up on the fact that Santana was never really _that_ mean to Mercedes, and when she was – it was in more of an inside joke-y kind of way. I thought that was cute, and I wondered if it had anything to do with Mercedes' close friendship with Quinn. Santana was never mean to Quinn – or, at least, not that I had seen.

"Well… take a picture while it lasts, honey." Mercedes motioned to her outfit. "Because, no offense-" She put her hand on my shoulder, "but that is _not _something my body can go through again." Santana and I both laughed as Mercedes fanned herself. "And it doesn't help that I've got Brittany making me look bad the whole time… seriously, have you seen this girl dance?"

Santana's eyes darted over to me quickly and then she laughed awkwardly. I guess I wasn't surprised when she didn't mention our run in at the club last week.

"Well, I've gotta go. Shooting's about to start." She said as she glanced over her shoulder to where the other actors were gathering.

"Definitely. Do your thing girl." Mercedes said as Santana turned to sign one last autograph. "Oh, and don't forget – Burt's tonight!"

Santana looked up quickly and I could tell she didn't know what Mercedes was talking about.

"Karaoke Wednesday? Quinn must have forgotten to mention it."

Santana nodded and looked off to the side, "Yeah, I'm uhh.. I don't think I can make it. Dinner plans." She kept looking away from us, and I could see that she felt uncomfortable.

"With Blaine? I heard you two worked it out last week. That's great." Mercedes said in a congratulatory tone, but I could hear the doubt laced in her voice. "You should invite him to come to Burt's after dinner – I'd love to meet him. I'm sure Quinn would too."

Santana looked at me quickly and I could tell that she wished Mercedes hadn't said anything. I tried to control my face – but I knew I probably looked a little bit sad and a lot a bit confused. Were Santana and Blaine _together_ together now? Why had Quinn never met him if she was Santana's roommate? Did Santana get together with him before or after I slept on her couch last week?

"Yeah, umm – maybe I will." Santana said quickly. She looked over at me again, but then her eyes darted away when she saw that I was staring back at her. "I'll see you guys later." She waived over her shoulder and walked away. Mercedes grabbed my arm and started leading me away from the group of teens, who were still pushing up against me trying to get Santana to come back.

When we got to the street corner, Mercedes turned to me and I saw that her eyebrow was raised. "Well that's the quietest I've ever seen you." She tapped me lightly with her hip to get my attention. "Did you forget how to talk? Or are you just scared of Santana?" She laughed.

"I'm not scared of Santana." I responded quickly. The sign changed and we started to cross the street.

Mercedes chuckled. "It's okay, Brittany. A lot of people are. She's a bitch. And I mean that in the nicest way possible." She shrugged.

I scrunched my mouth to the side. Why did everyone, including Santana, think of her as a mean person?

"I just can't understand this Blaine thing, though." Mercedes continued. "I'm sure he's great. But Santana? With another person? Romantically? That shit just doesn't make sense." She shook her head as we continued down the street.

"Why not?" I asked. I was curious now.

Mercedes side-eyed me like I was crazy. "I've only known her for a few years, but it's pretty easy to see that that girl is about as cuddly as pit viper."

I frowned. I knew that wasn't true, and I had only known Santana for a few weeks.

"The tabloids will tell you that she's had more boyfriends than a contestant on the Bachelorette, but I've never seen them. Which is a damn shame, because that girl could seriously benefit from letting a little love in."

I smiled when Mercedes said that, because she seemed to think that Santana was capable of feeling – but was just choosing to push all of her feelings away. But then Mercedes must have realized that she probably shouldn't be talking so much about Santana behind her back, because she changed the subject quickly and we continued on our way home.

/

Mercedes, Rachel, Quinn and I arrived at Muggy's around 8 pm that night. I had made sure to make myself a quick dinner beforehand and drink lots of water, because I didn't want to get super drunk this time. By the time we got there and made our way upstairs, Mike and Tina were already there and had grabbed us a seating area near the stage. There were leather couches to sit on and coffee tables to hold your drinks – and I could see that Sam had already brought over a pitcher for us to start. Quinn sat down in a chair next to Tina and Mike, and Mercedes, Rachel, and I sat on one of the couches. Mike started pouring everyone drinks and Tina and Quinn were talking about work. They worked at the same consulting firm, and that that was how Mike had become friends with the guys.

All three of the boys were working tonight, but Sam had told me that they usually weren't super busy on weeknights – so they would be able to come and join us at our table every once in awhile. We had been there for about 30 minutes when Rachel decided that it was time for her to take the stage and sing a song from Les Mis. I could tell that she had purposefully waited for Finn to get a break from the kitchen, because she ran up to the stage as soon as he appeared at the top of the stairs with Sam.

Rachel belted out her last note and we all cheered. Mercedes and I stood up and clapped for her and Rachel did a little bow and tried not to smile too wide. Just then, someone spoke up from behind us.

"Wow, that was fantastic. Is she on Broadway?" We all turned around and my eyes grew wide when I saw Blaine Anderson. He smiled and started to make his way around the couch to sit in one of the chairs next to Mike. Santana followed behind him, but took a seat next to Quinn instead.

"Hi guys, I'm Blaine." He said with a smile as he reached out to shake Mike's hand. "I hope you don't mind me joining you tonight. Santana mentioned karaoke, and I just couldn't resist." He made eye contact with everyone and shook their hands, but when he got to me he paused and his smile grew.

"Brittany, right?" He said, still shaking my hand. I laughed and nodded. I noticed when everyone, including Santana, looked confused.

"From the video shoot a few weeks ago. I remember." He laughed. "You guys were fierce! I could barely keep up!"

I laughed and shook my head. "No, you did great! Everyone loved the MJ moves you threw in at the end." He gestured a thank you and finally sat down just as Rachel was returning to the couch. She eyed Finn, who was sitting on the armrest of the couch next to me and Sam, and took her seat next to Mercedes.

"I probably shouldn't have sung." She said worriedly. "I can already tell that a few people recognize me, and now I'm just drawing attention." She shook her head and took a sip of her cosmo.

"Rachel, the only people you have to worry about recognizing you are bird watchers from the nature conservancy." Santana said disinterestedly. Quinn stifled a laugh and Mercedes looked at Rachel apologetically. Blaine didn't seem to hear, because he was in the middle of ordering a Smirnoff Ice from Puck.

"Nice. I thought icing was dead – but, ice away man!" Puck said as he walked back to the bar. Blaine just looked confused as he watched Puck leave.

My phone buzzed and I saw that I had a text. It was Rory telling me that he was running late, but would be at Muggy's soon. I had invited him to join us after running in to him over a week ago… and I couldn't wait for everyone to hear his accent.

Sam must have seen the text over my shoulder, because he started to laugh. "What are you doing talking to Rory Flannigan? Didn't you put that boy through enough misery in high school?"

I waived Sam off and he continued to chuckle. Mercedes hit me in the arm and I turned to face her.

"Another one? Seriously Brittany - who are all of these people trying to get a slice of your pie?" I laughed awkwardly when I noticed that Santana was now listening to our conversation.

Sam put his hand on my shoulder and sighed. "Well, Rory was an exchange student who lived with Britt's family our Senior year of high school… and I don't think I've ever seen someone have a bigger crush on a girl. I mean, I'm pretty sure this kid kept her used tissues in a closet shrine or something."

I frowned and hit Sam on the arm. I knew that Rory had had a crush on me in high school, but it was innocent – and Sam was exaggerating and making him look bad.

"Rory!" Sam yelled and I turned to look behind the couch. Rory had just come upstairs and was making his way toward us. I stood up to give him a hug and then scooted over so that he could sit between me and Sam. I introduced him to everyone and made sure to tell them all about his family's farm in Ireland, and how big of a deal it was for him to being going to school abroad. I didn't want anyone to get confused by Rory's accent like I did, so I tried to include as much as possible. Rory just stared at me and smiled the whole time I talked, and by the time I was done explaining everything I had a text from Sam.

_Yep. He still wants your lucky charms._

I rolled my eyes at Sam and listened as Rachel began asking Rory a string of questions about Irish River Dance - none of which he could answer – and laughed when Rory explained how I had tried to teach him and Sam how to dance one weekend in high school. I looked across the table and saw that Santana had gone to the bar. She had already downed a beer, and now I saw her taking two shots back to back. I frowned and turned back to the group. I hoped everything was okay.

As the night wore on, everyone took turns participating in karaoke. Finn sang the same Journey song I had heard him singing in the shower a million times before, Tina and Mike sang an adorable duet, and Mercedes dedicated "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" to Whitney Houston. Everyone was having a great time, except for Santana – who hadn't said much since she returned from the bar. Blaine had made his way over to her and had his arm around her shoulder now, but her arms were folded across her chest and she was drinking her mixed drinks really fast. I caught Quinn eyeing her worriedly when she stumbled slightly on the way to the bar for what seemed like the seventh or eighth time.

Blaine took the stage next and sang "Be A Man" from the Disney movie Mulan. He was getting really in to it and I tried not to laugh when I heard Puck mumble something to Quinn about how ironic Blaine's song choice was. I didn't know what that word meant, but I thought it was funny how Quinn stomped on Puck's foot afterwards.

When Blaine sat down, everyone clapped for him and Rory stood up. "Do ye think I could give it a go? I wonder if they have 'Danny Boy'… you know how it's my favorite." I started to nod excitedly when Santana stood up on the other side of the table.

"Oh hold up - this really could not be more cliché. What are you going to say next, Leprechaun – that your great grand daddy Mc'Gingertop sailed here on a four leaf clover, with nothing but a shilling and a shiny green top hat to his name?" She didn't wait for Rory to respond and she didn't look at me when I gave her a disappointed frown. Instead she just started walking toward the stage and called to Mercedes and Rachel over her shoulder.

"Girls – I'm gonna need your backup vocals on this one." She snapped her fingers and Mercedes and Rachel followed her to the stage. Santana leaned down and whispered a song name to the karaoke guy and made her way to the microphone.

The familiar sound of the opening guitars to Jessie J's "Domino" started to play and I couldn't contain myself as I started to shift in my seat excitedly. I loved this song, and I couldn't believe that Santana was actually going to sing. I looked around at everyone and they all seemed shocked. Puck's mouth was still hanging open and I heard Quinn whisper. "What is she doing?"

Santana opened her mouth and I don't think anything else existed in the room the second she started to sing. Her voice was perfection, and I knew that now I had heard it – I wanted her to sing all the time. Like a musical. She sounded even better than the real song, and she looked so sexy hitting her hand against her hip to the beat and dragging her fingers up the microphone stand.

_"Don't you know, you spin me out of control…"_ Her eyes fixed directly on mine and my breath hitched in my throat. Was she singing to me? I swallowed hard but smiled wide as Mercedes and Rachel came in with the "ooh ooh ooh's" and backup vocals for the chorus. They were smiling and dancing in the background and Santana was strutting around the stage and smiling now too. She looked like she was born to do this and I could tell that she was really happy in this moment, which made my smile grow even wider. Everyone in the bar was clapping along to the beat now and cheering loudly. Quinn was still shaking her head and holding her hands over her mouth, but I could see a smile peeking out from under her fingers. The song ended and Santana smirked and bowed while everyone cheered around her. She hadn't seemed that drunk while she was singing, but now she teetered and almost fell as she tried to walk down the small set of stairs on the side of the stage. Mercedes caught her and steadied her as they walked back to the table. Santana grabbed another shot off of a tray as a waitress passed and downed it quickly. Mercedes cringed and tried to offer her some water, but Santana just shook her head and pushed it away.

"That was fucking amazing." Puck said in disbelief. "Seriously, I think I just got turned on." Quinn made a face of disgust and Puck just shrugged and mouthed "what?"

"I agree. That was incredible, Santana. I had no idea you could sing like that." Blaine said kindly… but he looked at her worriedly as she swayed slightly in the seat next to him.

"You're a talented bunch, that's for sure. Thanks so much for letting me be a witness tonight… I feel like I'm at a concert!" Rory smiled.

I saw Santana rolling her eyes and I couldn't stop her before she spoke. "You, at a concert? You're the most boring Irish I've ever met. If I put Guinness under your nose, will you at least do a jig or _something_?" Her words were starting to slur now and her eyes were slightly glazed over.

"Okay! I think it's time to head home. Santana, you ready?" Quinn asked, but I could tell that it was more of an order. Santana just waived her off as she struggled to pull on her jacket.

We all decided that it was getting late for a weeknight and decided to head outside to hail cabs. I hugged Rory goodbye and apologized for the things that Santana had said. He didn't seem to mind and just told me to make sure that she was okay.

By the time we got back to the apartment, Santana could barely stand and Quinn was struggling to keep her up. Mercedes and Rachel had already walked across the street to their apartment, and the boys had to stay at Muggy's to finish work – so it was just me, Quinn and Santana now. I walked over and pulled Santana's other arm around my shoulder and wrapped my hand around her waist.

"Here, let me help." I offered as Quinn struggled to tap her key to the key fob and open the door to our building.

"Thanks." She said and we began to make our way to the elevator. "I don't know what's gotten in to her tonight."

"Not Blandersonnnn, that'ss forr surree." Santana mumbled and her head rolled to the side. She buried her face in my hair and I could feel her nose nuzzle against my neck. I couldn't help the butterflies that stirred in my stomach, even if the situation was far from intimate.

We finally reached their door and I helped Quinn carry her inside. Quinn lead us to Santana's bedroom and we plopped her down on top of the covers. Quinn let out a relieved sigh and started to walk out of the room.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to go grab her some water." I nodded and turned back to Santana. I shifted awkwardly on my feet for a few seconds before finally moving toward her. Her eyes were closed and she didn't look like she had any intention of moving.

"I'm just going to take off your shoes and get you under the covers, okay?" I asked timidly as I knelt down to remove her boots. She didn't respond, so I started to slip them off. Taking off her jacket was more difficult, but she helped a little bit by holding up her arms and rolling over when I need her to. Finally, I pulled back the covers and placed my hand lightly on her arm.

"Ready for bed time?" I leaned down to whisper in her ear. I saw a small smile spread across her face and she nodded. She put her arms around my neck and I had to hug her to pull her up further on the bed. As I laid her down again, I felt her lips brush against my ear and I could have sworn I heard her whisper "Why you?" in a voice that sounded so quiet and broken. I helped her crawl under the covers and she immediately nuzzled in to the pillow. I watched her for a moment and smiled when she mumbled "Why you?" one more time, before taking a deep breath and drifting off to sleep. She looked so cute and peaceful, and all I wanted to do was run my fingers across her cheek and tell her how amazing she sounded tonight… but instead, I straightened up just as Quinn walked back in to the room.

"Wow, you actually got her in to bed." She laughed and placed the water on the nightstand. I nodded and smiled as Santana hummed contentedly below us… she was already asleep.

I followed Quinn out of the room and back to the kitchen. "Do you want some water too?" She asked kindly and I smiled and nodded my head tiredly. She poured two more glasses and we made our way over to the living room.

"I'm sorry about what Santana said to your friend. She was being particularly nasty tonight and, for what it's worth, I thought he was really nice." Quinn started to say, and I smiled when I realized that this was the first time we were talking, just the two of us.

"I don't remember the last time I saw her drink like this." She shook her head sadly. "Something must have set her off."

I frowned and tried to remember what had happened tonight, and if I had seen anything that would have made Santana sad… but then I remembered something that I had wanted to ask Quinn.

"How long have you known each other?" I asked and took a big sip of water. I smiled when I remembered how Santana had offered me water in this exact spot the last time I was here.

Quinn took in a big breath and looked like she was pondering the question. "Oh gosh. Well, I think we were around 7 when we first met? It was first grade – so however old we were then." I knew that my eyes bugged a little bit because I hadn't been expecting her to say that young.

She laughed and must have read my mind. "I know what you're probably thinking, what was _that_ person like as little girl?" She pointed toward Santana's bedroom and I nodded.

"Well, she used to live in a townhouse near my family's in the Upper East Side. Our parents were friends, and we went to the same private school… so, naturally they forced us to have play dates." Quinn laughed. "I think we were both pretty skeptical of each other at first – I mean, here was this little girl who refused to wear matching colored socks and only spoke to her dolls in Spanish. And I was the bow-wearing child of a WASP and a Wall Street tycoon." I laughed because Quinn rolled her eyes, and because it was cute picturing the two of them as children. "But eventually I think we realized that we were all we had in that crazy world of cocktail parties and cotillions. And I'll never forget the first time she offered to teach me Spanish, so that our dolls could finally play together." Quinn smiled as she recalled the memory. "It was after my parents had gotten in to a particularly bad fight, and we were hiding under the kitchen table." Her eyes grew more distant now and I wondered if she had meant to mention that last part.

"She was the sweetest girl I knew… well, aside from being incredibly stubborn, of course." Quinn laughed and shook her head. "I was so sad when she had to move." Quinn didn't mention anything about Santana's father, because I'm sure she felt awkward saying anything too personal about Santana's life. I didn't blame her; I was still shocked that Santana had told me herself.

"I tried to stay in touch with her after that, but we were both busy and eventually she stopped responding…" Quinn looked sad, but not hurt. "She knew that she could always reach out to me, so I didn't push it… and, sure enough, three years ago – I got a call saying that she was moving to New York. Three months after that, we were living together in this apartment." I smiled and looked around the room at the same time Quinn did. "It was perfect timing, because I had just finished up at Brown and was living in my parents townhouse again – I hadn't _lived_ at home in eight years… first boarding school and then college… so I was going crazy and was desperate to move out."

"Was it weird? Living together after all of those years apart?" I asked.

"Yes, a little." Quinn said honestly. "By the time she came back, she wasn't the same girl I had known growing up. She was calloused and jaded – and still as stubborn as ever." Quinn laughed. "But I see glimpses of that girl every now and then, and I know that she'll always have my back – so I'm happy to have her around. It reminds me of who I am, in a weird way." I nodded and didn't push to hear more, even though I was so curious. Quinn looked up at me with tired eyes. "She's a good person, you know. She just doesn't expect people to treat her that way, so she acts out. Self-fulfilling prophecy, I suppose." Quinn sighed and shook her head. "Sorry, I don't know why I'm talking so much about Santana. It's not my place… and who's to say I really understand her, anyway? I don't think anyone ever will."

I reached over and patted her on the knee. "Quinn - I think she's a good person, too." I said simply and smiled. Quinn looked up at me and her smile was so genuine. I hoped that she wouldn't give up on Santana, because no one was ever broken… it was just that, sometimes, they were a lot harder to fix.


	7. Chapter 7

**So, so sorry for the delay, guys... an increased workload at the J-O-B (yay promotions! boo non-brittana related priorities), plus a crippling case of writers block lead to the perfect storm of procrastination. Moving forward, I'll be more realistic with my timing estimates for updates – so I would say to expect a new chapter every 1-2 weeks.**

**Oh, and I realized after posting the last chapter that I referred to "Burt's" as "Muggy's" throughout the _entire_ karaoke scene. Yep, editing fail on my part - apologies if anyone was confused. :)**

**So, without further ado, here are the songs for this chapter. Thanks for sticking with me and enjoy!**

_[youtube].com/watch?v=n-5icYgiTfw (Albert Hammond Jr. – Scared)_

_[youtube].com/watch?v=4-IZbmRmM_s&feature=related (I Don't Trust Myself – Mike Posner_)

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

It was Saturday and I was working the afternoon shift at Muggy's. Rachel had already left and I was scrubbing the same spot on the counter for the tenth time. There wasn't anyone in the café, and I was super bored - so I switched songs on the playlist I had made and started reorganizing the tea boxes. I really loved Albert Hammond Jr., but now I was realizing that this song reminded me of Santana. I wondered if maybe that's why I had chosen it, because - subconsciously – I was always trying to figure her out.

I hadn't heard from her since the morning after Karaoke Night, when Quinn and I had to carry her home. Her text had just said "_Thanks_", but I knew that that was a lot coming from Santana. I had wanted to text her back a million different things, like "Why were you so sad?", or "Are you mad?", and "Why were you so mean to Rory?"… but eventually I just settled for "_Anytime_," and that was that. Because even though I could see that Santana wasn't happy with Blaine, she was still _with_ Blaine… and that meant she either wasn't ready or didn't want to be with me. It stung a little, to think about it like that, but I had only known Santana for a short amount of time… plus, I was really good at being friends with people. So, I would be friends with Santana. I nodded to myself as I made a mental note to try to release those butterflies that she had left somewhere around my heart.

Someone coughed behind me. "Albert Hammond Jr…. a solid choice. I'm impressed," spoke a deep voice with and English accent. I smiled and turned around to find Liam standing at the counter. "But this song is kind of depressing. The person he's singing to is obviously afraid of everyone else's opinion. They're a coward."

I shook my head. "They're not a coward… they just need someone to show them that it's okay to be loved." I challenged with a smirk.

Liam nodded his head slowly and then smiled. "You sound like you know what you're talking about. An ex, perhaps?"

"Nope." I pondered the question for a moment. "Just a friend." He smiled and I remembered that I should probably ask him if he wanted anything.

"So, what can I get you? We have tea? I know your people need that at like, a certain time of day or something."

He laughed and shook his head. "I actually came to see _you_. Remember, I said I would stop by?"

"That's right! … After you forgot where I worked." I teased.

Liam put his hands up in the air and smiled. "Touché, touché." He leaned forward on the counter. "I guess I was just hoping we could finish that fascinating conversation we were having about feline AIDS at Eric's Pictionary night last week."

"Really? Because I have so many ideas!" I said excitedly. "Feline Immunodeficiency Virus is the _real _problem… so obviously researchers need to start there when they're trying to develop a dual-subtype vaccine. Oh, and don't even get me started on the need for feline contraceptives, because there are soo many opt-"

"Brittany," Liam laughed. "I was joking." I frowned and I felt my shoulders slump slightly, Liam must have noticed because he raised his eyebrows and started to backtrack. "But, umm… I think it's amazing that you're so knowledgeable. Cats are umm… really smart?" He scratched the back of his head and looked like he didn't know what else to say.

I nodded in agreement. "They're 100% the smartest animals. Everyone thinks it's chimpanzees, or dolphins… but chimps are cheating off of humans. And dolphins haven't even figured out how to walk yet." Liam raised an eyebrow. "I know, right? SO embarrassing." I shook my head sadly. "But, they _have_ overcome a lot of hate from the heteronormative shark community… so, I still respect them."

Liam was just chuckling and shaking his head. "You are too funny, Brittany. Seriously, where do you come up with this stuff?"

My brow furrowed and I tried to figure out which part of what I had said was a joke, but Liam waived it off and started to speak again.

"Look, the real reason why I wanted to stop by was because… well… I was wondering if you were free tonight?" He looked nervous all of a sudden as he started to fiddle with the napkins. "I was wondering if maybe you wanted to grab dinner? … And then maybe go to this club where a friend of mine is spinning? … Or just dinner, whatever you're up for… if you're free, that is. I mean, I know you're pretty busy with two jobs and everything, so it's probably a long sho-"

"Liam!" I finally interrupted and he put the napkins down. "That's really nice of you to ask, but I actually have plans."

"Oh, okay… no worries." He looked so deflated, but he immediately shifted his attention and started to stare intently at the menu.

"Oh! I almost forgot, you can come over tonight – if you want." I said suddenly. Liam's eyes bugged as he pulled his gaze away from the menu.

"But you just said…" He looked confused.

"Right. I can't do dinner because my roommates and I are having people over tonight!" I clarified. "But you're totally invited. Eric's going to be there." I felt bad that I hadn't thought to invite Liam before. Maybe it was because Rory was already coming, and I wanted him to feel special about his accent.

Liam smiled now. "Yeah, okay – sure. That sounds fun." He relaxed now and his voice seemed to get deeper. "Just, uh – text me the address or something. Or I'll just get it from Eric – or, whatever, I'll figure it out." He shook his head at himself and I laughed. Just then, another customer entered and walked up to the counter behind him.

"I'll see you later, Brittany." Liam said and I waived as he left the café.

/

I could hear the bass thumping dully from Puck's speakers as I looped my hair one final time around the curling iron and pulled it out in to a soft wave. The boys had been pre-gaming for the last hour, and I could tell that they were already tipsy, because Sam had just entered my room looking for his "Bieber sweatshirt".

"Oh come on! Just tell me where it is. I'll only put it on when a Justin Bieber song plays, I promise. It'll be hilarious!" He whined from behind me. I could see him checking out his hair in the mirror and trying to swoosh it all to one side.

"You told me to burn it after you did that routine to 'Baby' the_ last_ time we had people over." I reminded him. "I remember because it was really hard to burn. I had to get lighter fluid and stick it inside a metal trashcan behind the building… like a homeless person.'" I shuddered at the memory.

Sam's mouth dropped open dramatically. "You _actually_ burned it?"

"Yes?" I said, hesitantly. "You also told me to never let you wear purple again. That's why your Lakers jersey is under my bed."

Sam smacked his hand to his forehead. I just shrugged and pushed past him out of the bathroom. "What? Is purple _in_ again or something?" I asked.

Sam took a deep breath, then he gave me a tired smile. "Thanks for looking out for me, Britt… I'll take that Lakers jersey back, though."

I reached under the bed and threw it to him. He caught it and started inspecting the fabric. "So, umm… did you text Mercedes and Rachel about tonight?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Yep, they're going to try to stop by after they're both done with their plays – it probably won't be until later though… so maybe get all of your impressions – including the Biebs - out of the way early." I gave him a sly smile and he rolled his eyes.

Just then, we heard the door opening and voices filled the room. A few of the guys' friends from work had just walked in, and behind them were Mike and Tina. I smiled and made my way over to them. They were holding a six pack and Tina opened her arms for a hug.

"I'm so glad you guys could make it!" I said as I hugged them both and tried to stuff the beer in to the overflowing fridge.

"The place looks even better than the last time we were here!" Tina said as she looked around the apartment. "You're _so_ much better than the last roommate these guys had." She nudged Mike playfully in the side.

Mike looked down at her adoringly. "Hey! Brittany hasn't seen our place yet… but I think she'll be able to figure out who the messy one is when she does!" They nudged each other back and forth and Mike laughed as he turned back toward me.

"Oh, Britt. I talked to Darius this afternoon and NBC finally agreed to pay us a cancellation fee for the 30 Rock fiasco. It's not much, but it's something." He shrugged. I tried to muster up a smile, but thinking about the dance studio and our money situation just made me sad. Things hadn't been getting much better in that department.

"Okay, no offense – but I've heard enough about this from Mike all week. Tonight should be enjoyable." Tina said kindly. "I say we all take a shot to get things started." She started looking around, probably for shot glasses – and Mike just laughed. I grabbed a few glasses from the cupboard and poured out some vodka. We were about to clink them together when someone yelled from behind me.

"Wait for meee!" It was Quinn. She appeared next to Tina and reached over to give us all hugs. "Sorry, sorry… Santana had a late shoot tonight and I told her I'd wait until she got home." She started reaching for a glass. "But, bring on the vodka!" I laughed and started pouring another shot when I noticed Santana approaching hesitantly behind Quinn. She looked awesome – like, hot with two t's awesome – in a tight, high-waisted blue skirt and striped tank top. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she kept eyeing the door like she might try to bolt at any moment… but I was trying not to stare, because I don't think friends usually stared at other friends' boobs like I wanted to stare at Santana's.

"Hi!" I said as I poured one final shot and handed the glasses to her and Quinn. She just nodded her head once and said "thanks" as Quinn raised her glass in the air.

"To the Hamptons!" She cheered gleefully. Everyone looked around at each other hesitantly and then slowly raised their glasses to meet hers.

"Oh, come on – don't tell me you haven't asked off from work!" She dropped her glass and eyed me and Tina incredulously before turning to Mike. "And Mike, I _know_ it's Columbia's Spring Break next week… so, no excuses." She shook her finger at all of us. "This is a yearly tradition, guys! My parents have the summer home all ready for us… it's only for three days… so, you're all going. End of story."

Mike laughed and patted Quinn on the shoulder. "Of course we're going, Quinn. We wouldn't miss it." She nodded her head in approval and then turned to me. I just smiled and raised my glass to hers. "I've never seen the ocean in real life, so… count me in!" She smiled super wide and then we all downed our drinks. Tina made a sound of disgust and wiped the back of her hand against her mouth.

As we were putting our glasses back on the counter, the door opened again and Rory entered. I waived at him excitedly and he walked over to join us. He started saying hi to everyone, but paused slightly when he got to Santana. "Santana." He nodded and gulped awkwardly. "Glad to see you're feeling better."

"Why are you still here?" She asked disinterestedly, ignoring his outstretched hand and examining her fingernails. "Shouldn't you be returning to the motherland in preparation for your patron saint's holiday?"

Rory just laughed awkwardly and moved his hand over to shake Tina's instead, while Quinn shot Santana a disapproving look. I only had a few seconds to frown, because then I saw Eric and Liam walking through the door. I ran over and gave them both big hugs and walked them over the group.

"Guys! This is Eric and Liam. Eric and I dance together and Liam is a really good DJ." Eric and Liam waived to everyone and Mike stepped forward to shake their hands. He already knew Eric from the studio, but I don't think he had met Liam before – so he introduced himself and they started talking briefly. When Liam started speaking, Tina and Quinn both raised their eyebrows at his accent and I heard Santana mumble "What is this, the United Nations?" under her breath.

Eric took the opportunity to lean over to me and not-so-subtlety nod his head and waggle his eyebrows in Liam's direction. My eyes bugged momentarily before I pushed Eric lightly to make him stop. When I turned back to the group, both Santana and Rory were watching me with unreadable expressions. I swallowed hard and tried to change the subject. "So, who wants to take another shot with Liam, Eric and Rory?" I asked. Mike and Quinn raised their hands happily, but Santana just walked over to the living room and Tina quickly shook her head and grabbed a beer. I shrugged and started filling up the glasses again.

/

It was an hour later and everyone was sitting around the coffee table in the living room playing Kings. I had ended up squished on the loveseat between Rory and Liam, and Eric was sitting on the floor with his arm draped over my legs. He was super drunk and laughing hysterically because Tina landed on Nine – Bust a Rhyme, and had unfortunately chosen the word "Sang"… which Finn, Sam and Puck immediately followed up with "Bang", "Chang's", and "Wang." I couldn't help laughing too, because Tina was blushing so hard that it was actually visible on her cheeks.

I wasn't drunk, so I was aware that Liam had smoothly propped his arm up behind me on the couch … but I didn't want Santana or Rory to look at me like they had earlier, so I tried to lean forward and pretend like I didn't notice.

Finn was up next and he chose a Jack – Never Have I Ever, which immediately sent everyone in to a pre-teen state of squeals and awkward fidgeting. Finn scrunched his mouth to the side as he held up five fingers and tried to think of something to say.

"Hmm… Never Have I Ever…." His eyes scanned the room and then finally he landed on Puck and smiled. "Been arrested."

Puck dropped a finger and took a swig of his beer, smiling proudly. Quinn rolled her eyes. Next to me, Liam dropped a finger as well and drank. Eric turned to face him, looking surprised.

Liam just shrugged. "I was 18 and completely sloshed at a Coldplay concert back home… tried to get on stage and ended up hitting a cop by accident."

"Well aren't you just a modern day Sid Vicious…" Santana murmured sarcastically. She was sitting in a chair across from us, sipping idly on her beer.

Puck was up next and he immediately smirked. "Never Have I Ever… hooked up with a dude." He high-fived Finn and then looked around at all of the girls. My eyes darted over to Santana, who casually took a sip of her drink and put a finger down. Eric dramatically put one of his fingers down and then stood up to high five each of the girls as, one by one, we all drank.

Quinn, who was sitting on the floor in front of Puck, looked up toward the ceiling and tapped her lips as she tried to think of something to say for her turn. She looked over at Santana and then smiled. "Never Have I Ever broken up with someone… after a _week_." She said and waited with a sly smile as Santana scowled and put down another finger. Tina looked from Santana to Quinn, and then back to Santana. "Wait, did you break up with Blaine - _already_?" She asked, confused. I held my breath as I waited for her response.

Santana started playing with the ends of her hair. "Yeeeep." She drawled out. "Sorry we can't all be Asian mail order brides like you, Girl-Chang."

Mike's mouth dropped open. "Santana, that's extremely offensive." He said as he put an arm around Tina to comfort her. Santana just shrugged. I felt my ears getting hot as I watched everyone silently judging her with their glares.

Sam swooped in to break up the tension. "Oookay," he started. "Never Have I Ever… been in love." I could tell that he thought this was just a throw-away question, but everyone started to look around the room at each other with genuine interest. Tina and Mike put their fingers down at the same time and then leaned in to give each other a sweet peck. Quinn hesitated, but finally dropped a finger after several long seconds… and behind her on the couch, Puck tried to hide the finger that he had put down as well. I smiled at their cuteness, and then looked over at Santana. She still had three fingers raised, and I noticed when she stole a quick glance to look at mine. I still only had one finger down from Puck's question about boys.

Rory went next, and everyone but Liam put their fingers down when he said "Never Have I ever been born in America." Boring.

Now it was my turn and I had no idea what to choose. Just then, Mike Posner's version of "I Don't Trust Myself" started to play over the speakers. I pulled my bottom lip under my teeth and my eyebrows knitted together in concentration. I wanted to think of something awesome to say. The room was quiet as everyone waited for me to continue, and now I could hear the music clearly.

…_And if my past is any sign of your future, then I should warn you before I let you inside._

_Hold on to whatever you find baby, hold on to whatever helps you through._

_Hold on to whatever you find baby, I don't trust myself with loving you._

Without thinking, my eyes automatically flicked up to Santana. She was staring down at the ground, but then her eyes slowly slid up to meet mine. She held my gaze.

_I do my best to act like she doesn't phase me, as if I pull girls just like her all the time._

_I even waited seven days before I called her, but she can play this game much better than I._

Santana smirked and then averted her eyes back to the ground. I knew we had to be thinking about the same thing, which drove me crazy because it only confirmed that she was purposefully shutting me out.

"Never Have I Ever lied." I said abruptly. Eric turned around to look at me like I was crazy, and everyone else looked around at each other, obviously thinking that this was a joke. Santana continued to stare at the floor.

Sam chuckled and then looked around at everyone. "Believe it or not, that's true. I've known Brittany since we were six, and she's never lied." I smiled triumphantly and watched as everyone around me put their fingers down. Suddenly I felt a little lame, was it weird that I had never lied to anyone?

_She deserves better, bet-better, better… better than me. Better than me._

Santana took a long swig of her drink, until it was completely empty… and then stood up from her chair. I watched as she made her way to the kitchen and filled up a glass with tap water. She paused for a moment in front of the sink, closed her eyes, and then rubbed her temples like she had a headache. She obviously didn't think anyone was paying attention to her.

I turned back to the group, where Eric was holding up his fingers in front of me. "Never Have I Ever…" He said in a sing-song voice and then his smile turned devious. "Diddled a woman's skittle." Puck laughed and put a finger down, along with Finn, Mike, Sam, and Liam. Rory shifted uncomfortably and took a sip of his beer, but didn't put a finger down. I stared at my fingers, confused – because I loved skittles, but I didn't know what "diddling" meant… or why the boys were the only ones doing it. I looked up and Sam caught my eye. He mouthed "girl sex" and my eyes bulged in response. I stared down at my fingers again, still confused – what qualified as sex between two girls? I started to put down one of my fingers, but then yanked it back up before it could be counted as official… I was almost positive that what had happened at cheer camp with Courtney didn't count as sex. When I looked up Santana had returned to her seat and she was watching me… her eyes were narrowed and she seemed slightly confused. She hadn't put a finger down either and she was chewing distractedly on her bottom lip.

Liam rubbed his chin as he tried to think of something for his turn and repositioned himself on the couch so that his arm was now resting lightly around my waist. I guess I didn't mind it, but I hadn't really had time to think about whether I was interested in Liam or not – and all of this was kind of confusing. Especially now that I knew Santana had broken up with Blaine.

Crap. Santana. I looked up and caught her glaring at Liam's hand that was curled around my side. I shifted awkwardly and then stood up from the couch. Liam was looking up at me worriedly, so I patted his shoulder reassuringly and asked if he wanted anything to drink. He smiled and shook his head no. Thankfully he didn't seem bothered by the fact that I was being a little awkward, because he just went back to playing the game.

"Never Have I Ever stolen something." I heard him ask as I made my way to the kitchen.

"Dammit!" Puck yelled and everyone started laughing… that had been his last finger. I poured myself a glass of water and watched from behind the counter as the laughter lulled and everyone waited for Santana to pick a card. She looked around at them, rolled her eyes, and then reached to pull one from the circle.

I could see half of the group tense up as the card was flipped over. Tina and Quinn exchanged looks and Puck rubbed his hands together in delight. "Hot Seat." He sneered, then he turned to Rory. "In America that means we get to ask Santana any question we want and she has to answer it." He explained slowly. "No matter what."

"I know what 'Hot Seat' means." Rory huffed, slightly offended.

"I'm picking a different card." Santana said coolly. I could tell she was trying to keep her voice even as she reached to put the card back.

"Santana, you can't do that." Sam said cautiously. "Everyone else has been playing by the rules."

"Oh calm down, leach lips. It's a fucking drinking game, not the Olympics." She waived her hand in the air. "Besides, it's not like you have anything to worry about… everyone already knows that you get your collagen injections from the same unlicensed "doctor" as Heidi Montag and Jocelyn Wildenstein."

Sam's lips pressed together in to a tight line. I could tell that he was trying to keep calm, but Santana was staring him down. Finn spoke through the tension before either could break.

"You're one to talk, Santana." He challenged. "I heard you got all kinds of plastic surgery when you were trying to 'make it big' in Hollywood."

Santana let out an icy laugh and then started walking toward Finn, who was now standing up from the couch to tower over her. Everyone else was looking back and forth between them like they were watching a tennis match.

"Oh, is that so?" Santana tilted her head to the side and poked Finn in the chest. "The only one who needs plastic surgery in this room is you, Stay Puft. Hell, I'll pay for your liposuction myself if it spares everyone from looking at your bouncing, braless man tits one more time." Finn's eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened. "I mean, really…" Santana continued. "If I _had_ gotten plastic surgery, don't you think I would have _at least_ asked for bigger boobs than yours?" Everyone held their breath as Finn's hands balled in to fists by his sides and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Stop the violence!" I yelled from the kitchen. The words had escaped before I could catch them, and now I was holding my hands over my mouth in case anything else tried to slip out. Everyone turned to face me and I could feel my face getting hot.

Before I could say anything else though, the front door opened behind me and Rachel and Mercedes walked in.

"The guests of honor have ariiii-iiiived!" Rachel sung and threw her arms up in the air dramatically, waving a bottle of wine. The room remained silent, still looking from Finn, to Santana, and then back to me.

Obviously thrown off by the lack of enthusiasm, Rachel lowered her arms and she and Mercedes both raised one eyebrow in confusion. Abruptly, Quinn jumped up from her spot on the floor.

"Mercedes! Rachel! Let me help you uncork that wine. We were just finishing a card game," she shot Santana a look. "So you have perfect timing!" She nudged Puck and motioned for him to turn up the music, and then she walked over to Mercedes and Rachel and started pulling them toward the group.

Rachel looked over at me, slightly confused. I quickly shook myself out of my daze and walked over to her.

"Here, let me take your coat." I offered and began to pull it off of her shoulders before she could respond.

"Oh! Okay?" She finally slipped out of her jacket and I folded it over my arm. "Thanks!" She called after me as I hurriedly made my way to my room. I had every intention of just laying the coat on my bed and returning to the living room, but my neck felt hot and clammy and my heart was still racing. I hated confrontation – especially when it involved my friends – and it usually left me feeling nervous and on edge. I walked to my bathroom and shut the door. I needed a moment to collect myself.

As everyone's voices muffled away, I placed my hands on the sink, closed my eyes, and counted to ten. When I opened them again I was looking at myself in the mirror, trying desperately to make sense of it all. How had I let Santana affect me this way, I wondered. She was the only person I had ever met who could make my knees week and my blood boil at the same time. My body had never reacted this way to anything, and I didn't know what that meant. I shook my head and turned on the faucet just as someone knocked lightly on the door.

"Just a minute!" I called as I dabbed my fingers to the cool water and then ran them slowly over the back of my neck. The knock sounded again and I wondered if they could hear me over the music. I turned off the faucet and reached for the door handle.

The only thing I saw before I felt Santana push me back in to the bathroom was the terrified look on her face. Like she knew she was about to do something that would change everything.

Her hands pushed hard against my hips and my butt hit the sink behind me. I heard myself take in a sharp breath as her lips crashed against mine and our mouths began to search each other's frantically. I had spent so much time daydreaming about what her lips would feel like, but tasting them now – as they pressed and sucked hard against my own – was so much better than any fantasy I could have created.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around her, I wanted to pull her as close to me as possible and show her that this was more than okay. She sighed in to my lips and I could tell that she was smiling too. My heart was pounding with the confirmation of how badly I wanted her. Of how much I had needed this.

She pushed so hard against me and I tried to take in air through my nose so that I didn't have to break apart to breathe. I was sucking on her top lip, then moving apart and coming back to lightly nip on her lower, then I was licking my tongue against the opening of her mouth. I felt like I wanted to try everything at once, just in case I never got the chance to do this again.

She opened her mouth so quickly that I almost forgot what I was doing – but then our tongues were tangling and Santana was letting out a small moan in response. Her arms were now on either side of me, grabbing on to the sink and pinning me in to place. My hands were on her cheeks, trying desperately to pull her closer. I needed her closer. I felt like if I didn't rub against her somehow, I might explode… so I pushed off the sink and we went crashing in to the wall behind her.

She moaned again as our lips reconnected, and I started pressing against her leg to ease the tension I was feeling. This was so hot and I still couldn't believe that it was actually happening. She started kissing down my jaw and then I felt her open her mouth and press her tongue against my neck. She sucked on my pulse point and my neck automatically craned to the side to grant her better access. I was using my hands to push her hips hard against the wall and suddenly I realized that I had been grinding down on her thigh. I tried to put some distance between us, because I didn't want to move too fast – but Santana grabbed my ass and pulled me back down hard against her leg. We both moaned at the contact and I felt her hands start to travel up my sides. She moved her lips back to mine and hovered there for a moment. I could feel the ragged puffs of air that were coming out of her mouth, and I stopped breathing momentarily as I waited for her next move. Her hands had stopped on my ribcage and her thumbs were sweeping slowly over the sides of my chest. I could tell that she didn't know what to do next, so I nudged her nose gently with mine and smiled.

"It took you long enough." I hushed against her lips. Her eyes were closed and I could feel her trembling slightly. Then she let out a shaky breath and nodded slowly.

"You have no idea." She whispered back.


End file.
